The Twelve Days of Christmas
by ada69
Summary: Twelve quirky, fun oneshots leading up to Christmas. Idea of Ada69 and Noble6. I do not own ADJL.
1. Chapter 1

**Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Ada and Noble's Twelve Days of Christmas! For the next twelve days, we will each add a chapter a day, which will result in 24 (12 of mine, 12 of hers) amazing Christmas oneshots. All of our oneshots have "themes," and we will both post a chapter/oneshot about the same particular theme for each day of Christmas. I have no idea how she interpreted the theme, and she has no idea how I've interpreted the theme. If we have a similar idea, it's just because we think so much alike at times. ;) We've been working on this for about a month now, which would explain the lack of updates from us both. **

**So here is the first one! I used this theme as kind of a prologue, which explains why it is so short and semi-plot less. This is (by far) the shortest of my oneshots. The best is yet to come! Enjoy!**

**The First Day of Christmas**

**Theme: New York Christmas Tree Lighting**

**Title: Christmas at Last**

This was it.

The time of the year that people all around the country anticipated all year round was finally here. Lights were being hung, the streets were buzzing with shoppers, little white flakes of snow were falling from the sky, and Christmas cheer was all around. Christmas was finally approaching.

Downtown New York was packed with citizens of every age because tonight was the night of the annual Christmas tree celebration. By the end of the night, New York's most famous Christmas tree would be glimmering with thousands of beautiful Christmas lights.

Jake had heard about this celebration many times, and he had been encouraged by his family and friends to go at least sometime in his life. He had decided that this was the year, and that he was going to take Rose along with him. She had told him only a few days ago that she really wanted to see the celebration this year especially because some of her favorite bands were going to be performing.

Jake had been happy to agree as he had already been planning on asking her to come along with him in the first place, but he had no idea what this kind of a celebration would be like.

The place was packed. Everyone was crammed in from building to building, and there was barely any room to push or shove or get to the front of the mob in hopes of seeing the bands better.

There was food of course, as well as hot beverages, but they were almost impossible to get to.

And of course, as luck would have it, it was negative two degrees Fahrenheit.

"Are you excited?" Jake turned to ask Rose as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Even though it probably wasn't smart, he never wore gloves.

"Very," her response was short, but the glimmer in her eyes told him that she was being truthful. Rose had, in fact, worn gloves. She always did as she was just a little smarter than Jake when it came to winter wear. She also wore a thick winter coat and a cute winter headband to cover her ears.

The two fell silent as the bands begin to play. Because they were so loud, it was no use trying to talk over them. Instead, Jake and Rose remained silent as they enjoyed listening to some of their favorite bands.

As the sun sunk further down beneath the horizon, it began to get even colder. Everyone in the crowd was huddled together to keep warm, and everyone's breath was clearly visible.

Soon, however, the music had stopped. It had been two full hours already, and the time had just flown by.

It was now time for the most anticipated event in the City of New York. It only happened once a year, and this was it.

It was time for the annual lighting of the Christmas tree.

Everyone remained silent as they waited for the tree to be illuminated by various beautiful colors.

Sensing the excitement of the moment, Jake reached over and slipped his hand into his girlfriend's. Rose had remained silent throughout most of the night, but the silence was more romantic than awkward for the two.

Some citizen of the New York area who had apparently done a great act of charity or something was now on center stage holding the remote that would turn on the lights.

The announcer then proceeded to slowly count down from five.

"Five, four, three, two," he hesitated for a short moment to build the tension before he continued, "one."

And with that, thousands of beautiful lights of many colors illuminated the tree and lit up the sky. At first, the lights were so bright that everyone in the crowd squinted before their eyes could focus in on the now fully lit tree. It was now complete. The once bland tree was now shimmering with color and spirit that practically screamed Christmas to the people of not only New York, but the United States as a whole.

The crowd reacted appropriately, cheering and jumping up and down in excitement.

"It's beautiful!" Rose exclaimed excitedly as she turned to Jake. "Have you ever seen it before?"

"Only on tv," he replied slowly, clearly still in awe by the tree. "It's not the same at all. I see that now."

"Yeah," she sighed happily. "It's funny how something so simple can make so many people so happy. Why do you think that is?" She questioned him.

"Well," Jake paused to think about it for a minute, "I guess Christmas is a time of hope and love. Christmas for some people is the only time that there family is really brought together. It means good times, good food, and family time," he stopped for a brief moment to think about it some more. "I guess," he replied after thinking for a minute, "I guess this ceremony means that Christmas is here to a lot of people."

Rose, in response, simply nodded at his explanation. It seemed reasonable enough to her.

She sighed again as a feeling of happiness and excitement swept over the crowd.

She shuddered as a cold breeze blew through the air, and Jake tried to pull her a little closer. She willingly cuddled into him a little more to regain some warmth. Jake was always warm, something that Rose would never get sick of.

Without saying anything else, the two leaned in for a quick, but passionate kiss. Many others as well were taking the opportunity to share a kiss at this seemingly beginning of the Christmas season.

In a world where hope was disappearing rapidly, the people of New York could not possibly display any more hope. The entire city was buzzing with Christmas spirit because it was here.

Christmas was here.

**XX**

**Well, that does it for the first day of Christmas. Tune in tomorrow for the second! I do have ten of the twelve oneshots already completely written out, so it's almost guaranteed that all of these will be posted on time. Yes, you are welcome. Lol. **

**And my sincere apologies to everyone waiting on updates for "Secrets of the Past." I've been so busy with this that I haven't had time for that. I am planning on posting a new chapter in very early January. In the meantime, it's been nice to take a break and write something a little bit different. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~ada**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright. Here is Christmas fanfic number 2! I like this one better than yesterdays. And tomorrow is my favorite. :) Enjoy! **

**The Second Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Ice Skating**

**Title: Breakthrough **

"Umm, Jake?" Rose gave her boyfriend a questionable look as he dragged her along to the front counter.

"Yeah, babe?" He paused for a minute to look at her. The look in her eyes told him that she was scared of something. "What's wrong?" He asked in concern.

"It's just that," Rose started and looked down at the ground, "I've never been ice skating before, and," she hesitated for a brief moment, "I'm kind of scared."

"Oh relax," he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "I'll help you learn. It's really not that hard."

"But…ummm," Rose hesitated once again, "people get hurt ice skating."

"Bsh," Jake waved his hand, "it doesn't happen very often."

Just as he spoke, an ambulance pulled into the parking lot and ran out onto the ice with a stretcher.

"But yes," Jake cursed inwardly the bad timing of some kid wiping out, "it does happen…occasionally."

"Hey," Jake continued when he saw Rose's horrified expression, "don't worry about it too much. I'll hold your hand," he promised. "If you fall, then I fall with you."

"Okay I guess," she spoke uncertainly and squeezed his hand a little tighter. "But if I die, I'm going to kill you," her voice suddenly turned from scared to threatening.

Jake laughed warmly in response. "Don't worry," he smiled brightly, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Rose saw the sincerity in his eyes and felt that she had no choice but to believe him.

Jake brought her forward to the front counter to get her some ice skates, and then he proceeded to drag her out onto the ice.

"This is REAL ice skating," he explained to her while holding onto her to keep her from slipping. "Most ice skating places in New York make ice, where this place is an actual frozen pond," he continued. "Isn't that cool?" He asked her, but he quickly realized that she wasn't paying much attention to him. Rose was too busy trying to keep her balance.

"Ja…Jake?" She stuttered. "I don't like this."

"I gotcha," he assured her as he tightened his grip on her. "There is absolutely nothing to be afraid of."

"Whoa!" She slipped clumsily, but Jake caught her in time.

"See?" He helped her stand up straight again. "I'm not going to let you fall."

Rose simply nodded in reply.

"Here," he spoke softly, "I have an idea. Why don't you try to stand on your own for a minute, and I'll stand right behind you just in case you start to fall?" he shared his idea with her.

"Umm," Rose hesitated. "I don't know about this, Jake," she frowned. "And it's not that I don't trust you. It's more like I don't trust myself."

"Well," Jake scratched the back of his head, "you never know unless you try," he suggested.

Still, Rose looked worried. "Alright," she finally agreed. "I'll try to stand on my own for a minute but you have to stand right behind me," she looked at him very seriously.

"Deal," he agreed instantly and slowly let go of her until she was standing completely on her own.

"Great!" Jake encouraged her as he tried to back up a little in order to get in a better angle to catch her in case she fell.

However, in the process of skating backwards, the heel of Jake's skate got caught in the ice and he tumbled onto the cold, frozen ice.

"Ow," he moaned as he tried to get up. It was extremely slippery, and every time he tried to make a move he just slid right back down on the ice.

Rose on the other hand was still standing all on her own, but she was laughing so hard that she was in danger of falling herself shortly.

"You promised," she managed to say between laughs, "that you were gonna stand RIGHT behind me just in case I fell," her laughing quieted down a bit. "You can't even keep yourself from falling. How are you supposed to keep me from falling?"

Jake growled as he finally got back up on his feet. "You try skating backwards and see how you do!"

"Hey," she smiled and threw her hands up defensively, "I'm not the skater boy here."

"Whatever," Jake mumbled quietly.

"I think I'm gonna try to actually skate now," Rose decided. "Wanna watch?" She smirked. "Maybe you'll get to see me fall and then you can be the one laughing," she offered in attempt to bring his Christmas cheer back up.

"Here," he spoke softly, "I'll skate next to you just in case you need some help. Start off slowly," he warned her.

He watched her carefully as she slid one foot and then the other very slowly and very cautiously to make sure that she did not slip. At first, she was doing pretty good, and Jake decided that she did not look like she was going to fall, but then Jake noticed something that he should have noticed before. The ice was cracked in the particular area she was skating. This meant that she could trip over one of those cracks and land face first on the ice, or even worse, it could mean-

Jake thoughts were interrupted when they suddenly turned into real life. The crack in the ice slowly began to grow, and Jake could hear the ice breaking with his dragon ears as Rose came closer and closer to approaching it.

"Rose!" He shouted as loud and fast as he could, but it was too late.

One minute, Rose was there, and the next, she had completely vanished into the cold, icy, and only seconds ago frozen pond.

Jake rushed over to where the ice had broken and reached in to pull Rose up by the arm. He yanked her arm up until her head finally popped out of the water, and she gasped for air.

"Hang on!" He shouted at her, but Rose was almost too cold to even hear him.

Eventually, he got his hands underneath her arms and was able to pull her up out of the water completely and set her down on a part of the ice that had not yet broken.

By this time, however, everyone in the skating rink was gathered around watching the two closely.

"Alright everyone," a scrawny kid who looked like he worked there piped up. "Please evacuate the ice immediately."

Rose, on the other hand, looked extremely cold. Jake noted that she was shaking badly, and her teeth were chattering loudly and quickly. She was soaked to the bone, and her cloths were stuck to her skin. Her hair was matted against her face, and the look in her eye told Jake two things: The first was that she was far too cold to speak, and the second was that she thought that this was entirely his fault.

"Are you all right Miss?" The kid turned to ask a still shaking Rose, who could barely even nod in reply.

"That hardly ever happens," he snorted. "Oh well. Have a safe trip home," he added and then turned to leave.

"Nice guy," Jake muttered sarcastically as he turned to leave.

"Rose?" He kneeled down and looked her in the eye. "I'm going to take you home and you're going to get warm again, okay?" He put a hand on her cheek, but the look on her face told him that she was completely pissed.

He sighed and lifted her up into his arms. He carried her out of the skating rink, and as soon as he was out of the view of others, he transformed into his dragon form and flew her back to his house.

He knew that the cold air rushing past them was only making Rose colder, so he tried his best to hold her against him for warmth.

When they got back to his house, he carried her up to his room and gave her some sweats to change into and a towel to dry off.

"Meet my downstairs when you are done changing," he instructed her softly. "I'm going to get a fire started and make you some hot chocolate, kay?"

She gave him a slight nod before he turned to leave his bedroom. He went down stairs immediately and started a fire. Then, he ran over to a chest in the corner of the living room and pulled out a couple blankets.

Jake ran into the kitchen and tore through the cupboards until he found the hot chocolate mix that he needed. Trying to get back into the living room by the time Rose came back down, Jake quickly filled up a cup with water and ran out of the kitchen, spilling a little as he went.

He plopped down on the couch just in time to see Rose walk down the steps in some of his old sweats. Her hair was still soaking wet, but otherwise, she looked a little bit warmer. She still had goose bumps, but she was no longer shaking.

Without saying a word, Jake held out the blanket for her, and she allowed him to drape it over her shoulders. She then proceeded to curl up on the couch in order to regain her warmth.

"I'll make you some hot chocolate now, okay?" He told her as he lifted the cup of water above his mouth and blew fire out of his mouth to heat it up. Once it was hot enough, he ripped open the packet and poured the mix in. He stirred it quickly with a spoon and wasted no time in giving it to her.

"You know," Rose finally spoke, but her voice was weak, "you can't just use the microwave like a normal person?" She gave him a weary smile.

"Ha! Babe please," he waved his hand and rolled his eyes, "since when have I ever been normal?"

Rose finally giggled a little bit before allowing him to snuggle in next to her. After all, he was extremely warm.

"Rose," he began apologetically, "I'm really sorry about what happened tonight. It seems that I always have a way of messing things up," he sighed and looked down at his hands.

Rose, in reply, simply leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, which happened to be incredibly warm against her cold lips. "It's okay, Jake," she replied understandingly. "I know that you didn't WANT the ice to break and for me to fall in."

"That's right," Jake nodded. "So please don't be mad at me. I just wanted to have a good time tonight."

"Well," Rose spoke softly, but her voice was finally starting to gain a little bit of strength, "I don't know about 'good time,' but I do know that I am never going to forget this, dragon boy," she gave him a sly smile.

"Me neither," he agreed with a short snicker.

"Oh well," Rose shrugged. "At least one good thing came of this."

Jake eyed her suspiciously. "And that would be…?"

Rose narrowed her eyes and shot him an evil grin. "I got to watch you fall on your ass," she smirked. "That was pretty entertaining."

"Whatever," Jake laughed and rolled his eyes. "I think you're just jealous because I'm a better skater."

"Yeah," Rose rolled her eyes, "that must be it."

Jake shook his head in amusement. "You know I love you," he said softly.

"I love you too, Jake."

**XX**

**Thanks for reading! :)**

**~ada**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Third Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Santa House**

**Title: Santa Clause is Coming to Town**

It was only two short weeks before Christmas, and New York City was bustling with last minute holiday shoppers. It was also time for all the children of New York to finish their letters to Santa so that they would be sent in time.

In the meantime, Jake, Rose, and Spud were busy setting up a special house for Santa in which kids could sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. This year, Fillmore High School had been put in charge of the set up. Sun Park had been chosen to oversee the preparation and chose certain students to help out. Thirty percent of the money they raised went directly to the school. This event had been a big hit in the past, and Sun did not want to disappoint.

"Thank you all so much for helping me out with this!" Sun thanked the three teens as she raced around in order to get things set up in time. "You don't know how much this means to me!"

"No problem, Sun," Rose smiled brightly at her home economics teacher. "We're happy to help! Right Jake?"

"Yup," Jake nodded enthusiastically. "I honestly don't have anything better to do today."

Rose shot him a look and elbowed him in the ribs. "This will be fun!" She turned back to Sun to assure her that they would be okay.

"Alright," she hesitated for a moment. "I'm going to put you two in charge of the crafts. Is that okay?" She asked them.

"Fine with me," Jake replied, and Rose nodded in agreement.

"And Spud,-" Sun began, but quickly stopped when she realized that Spud was no longer standing there. "Where did he go?" She whipped around to look for him.

"Over there," Rose pointed to the toy shop in the right corner of the building. Spud was on the floor along with some other five year old kid. The two were busy playing away with a toy truck that had obviously come from inside the gift shop.

Sun sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I guess I'll have him working with the toys," she said as she began to walk over to talk to Spud.

"Too bad that Trixie couldn't come," Rose turned her attention back to her boyfriend. "I think she would have been very helpful."

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "It seems like whenever she is here, she somehow manages to keep Spud under control."

Trixie's dad was home for the holidays this year, and she had made plans with him prior to Sun asking her to help out. She felt bad that she couldn't be there and spend some time with her friends, but she knew that she needed to spend some time with her father while he was at home.

"Well, should we head over to the arts and crafts table?" Rose turned to ask Jake.

"I guess so," he replied unenthusiastically.

"Oh," she grabbed his arm and dragged him along, "it'll be FUN!" She promised him, but the look she got back from him told her that he was not convinced.

"Hey," she suddenly thought of a different way to approach him, "at least you get to spend the day with me."

"Yeah," he nodded quietly, and then a brief moment of silence filled the air. Jake sighed. "Look, Rose, it's not that I don't want to be here and help out with all of this Christmassy wonderfulness and spend the day with you. It's just that…" he hesitated for a moment, "I'm not very good with kids," he finally admitted.

"Well," she grabbed his hand and looked him straight in the eye, "that's why you have me to help you out! Just follow my lead," she winked and dragged him along. The arts and crafts table was filled with all sorts of things; crayons, markers, colored pencils, paper, coloring books, beads, string, and many other interesting items.

"I miss being a little kid and being able to do all this great coloring stuff," Rose sighed as she observed the table in front of her. Jake, however, did not reply, and she then realized that his attention was somewhere else.

Jake was staring at Sun, who appeared to be talking frantically to someone on her cell phone.

"What's going on?" Rose asked him.

"I'm not quite sure," he replied slowly. "I can't hear from over here, but by the looks of it, it isn't good."

The two stopped talking when they saw Sun close her cell phone and walk toward them.

"Sun," Rose looked at her questionably, "what's wrong?"

Sun looked like she was about ready to burst into tears. "That was Matt Collins. He was supposed to be working here tonight, but something came up."

"Well," Jake looked around, "we seem to have enough people here. I don't think we really even need his help."

"No Jake," Sun shook her head. "He was going to be Santa."

"Oh," Jake replied after a moment of silence. "That is a problem."

"Well," Rose looked around the room, "there's has to be someone in here who would be happy to take his place. I mean, who wouldn't want to be Santa for a day?"

Rose and Sun looked around the room for a minute. Everyone there except for Sun was a High School student. Then their eyes suddenly turned to Jake.

"What?" He asked them. It took him a couple seconds to figure out what they wanted from him. "Ohhhh no. No way. Sorry guys…it ain't happening."

"Oh come on, Jake," Rose hit him playfully and put on a sad face. "These kids NEED a Santa."

"Um, in case you haven't noticed, I'm just a scrawny teenager! I could never pull that off," Jake threw his hands up in defense.

"They're just kids. They won't know the difference," Rose argued back. "Please Jake?"

"Rose, who KNOWS who has been wearing that stinky, sweaty costume for the past 100 years!" He shot back. "And it has to be 10 sizes too big for me!"

Sun sighed. "Jake, I'm desperate. I can't let down all of those kids waiting outside for us to open, and I can't risk not making the school any money."

Jake didn't say anything in return as he thought over what she had just said.

Realizing he was starting to think about it, Sun continued on. "Look! I'll give you extra credit in home ec. Please?" She asked hopefully.

Jake closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright," he finally agreed, "but I am telling you all now that this is not going to go over very well."

Rose lunged forward and hugged him. "Thank you, Jake!" She kissed him on the cheek. "I think you'll make a great Santa! I'll even dress up like one of those elves if you want me to."

"Mkay," Jake rolled his eyes, "let's just get this over with."

"Come on," Sun grinned, "I'll show you two where the costumes are."

**XX**

"This is _so_humiliating."

Jake was now wearing an XXL Red Suit, which was so big that it sagged down in numerous places. The boots on his feet were five sizes too big, and he couldn't take one step without tripping over himself. The fake beard he was wearing itched like crazy, and he had the urge to just rip it off completely. His spiky hair was now flattened under his Santa cap and bits and pieces stuck out. All in all, he looked ridiculous.

"Once you sit down, it'll look better," Sun encouraged him, though he could tell that she was giving all she had to keep from laughing.

Rose had "gone to the bathroom," but Jake knew that she had really left the room to go laugh at him someplace else.

"Now," Sun interrupted his thoughts, "go sit down! As soon as Rose get's back, we are opening!" She smiled cheerfully. Jake growled at her in response.

"Don't worry, Jake," she put her hand on his shoulder, "you're going to do great!" She picked up her clipboard and walked away to go talk to some of the other students setting things up.

Jake, walking slowly so he didn't trip, sighed and dragged himself over to "Santa's" chair. He plopped down and waited for what was surely to be the most humiliating experience of his life.

"Well, look at you!" Rose feigned enthusiasm. "You look fantastic!" She smirked, and Jake could tell she was trying not to laugh.

"You don't look so bad yourself," Jake growled back almost sarcastically as he observed Rose's elf costume. Secretly, however, Jake thought that Rose made a pretty cute elf. Her costume consisted of a short red velvet dress with a belt around her waist as well as red and green stripped tights. She wore a Santa cap similar to his and pointy shoes.

"Thanks," she smiled mischievously and pulled out a camera. "I found this in the back," she continued to speak. Jake could tell by the look on her face that she was planning something evil. "I'm going to take pictures of you with all the children! Won't that be FUN?" Her smile widened, and she giggled when she saw the expression on her boyfriend's face.

"I'm never going to forgive you for this," Jake replied after a brief moment of silence.

"Alright!" Sun called out to everyone, interrupting their conversations. "We are now officially OPENED!" She announced as she opened the door for all of the children and their parents to come in.

There must have been thirty of them that came in all at once, and for some terrible, terrible reason, they were all headed straight for Jake.

"SANTA!" They all screamed as they made a mad dash towards him.

"Oh dear God," Jake whispered so that only Rose could hear. He could tell from the look in her eyes that this was the most amused she had been in a very very long time.

"Now," Rose spoke loudly as they children came closer, "everyone needs to form a nice, orderly line."

To her surprise, the small children did as she told them, though they continued to scream and shout at the top of their lungs in anticipation.

"Alright," Rose led the first little girl to sit on "Santa's" lap. She lifted the girl up carefully, even though Jake was short enough to where she probably could have gotten up on her own.

"Ho ho ho," Jake tried his best to impersonate Santa Clause. "What's your name little girl?"

"Lisa," she replied shyly.

"Lisa," Jake repeated in his deep Santa voice, "what would you like for Christmas?"

"Well," the little girl twisted her hair around her finger, "I want a Barbie," she started.

"A Barbie?" Jake asked her. "Anything else?"

"Um Santa?" She asked shyly. "I have a question."

"Yes, Lisa?" Jake replied nervously, fearing what her question might be.

"Why aren't you fat anymore?" She asked him quietly in an almost concerned tone.

"_Shit.__My__cover__'__s__blown.__" _Jake thought to himself while scrambling to come up with an answer.

"Well," he started and paused to waste some time. He noticed Rose was on the brink of breaking down laughing. "That's an excellent question!" He replied to stall some more. "You…you see," he stumbled, "after Christmas is over, I go to sleep for a very long time. Kind of like bears do in the winter," he told her. "So over that time period, I lose a lot of weight," he thought it sounded reasonable enough. "When Christmas comes around again, and I eat ALL of those cookies, I gain it all back," he finished with a smile, proud of his little lie.

"Oh," Lisa nodded her head, deeply interested in what he had just said. "Thank you, Santa," she said as Rose snapped a quick picture. She climbed off of his lap and took the photo from Rose. "Merry Christmas!" Rose shouted after her as she scurried back to her parents.

"Who's next?" Rose walked over to the line and took the little boys arm. She gently lifted him up onto Jake's lap.

"Ho ho ho," Jake tried to maintain enthusiasm, "what might your name be?"

"You're not Santa!" The little boy scowled and crossed his arms over his chest.

Jake hesitated for a moment. "Why, of course I am!" He tried not to sound panicked.

"What did you do with the REAL Santa?" The boy continued angrily.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Jake tried to remain calm. "I am Santa Clause."

"I know," the little boy continued to accuse him, "you KILLED the real Santa didn't you?"

All of the children in line heard what the boy had said, and the excitement that had been there only seconds ago was replaced by fear and sadness.

"Santa's DEAD?" One little girl cried.

"No no no," Rose held out her hands and tried to calm them down. "He's right here. This is the real Santa and he can prove it to you," she turned and shot Jake a pleading look.

"Errr right," Jake nodded in agreement. "What can I do to prove it to you?" He asked the boy.

"Well," he began, "Santa loves to sing and dance. If you want to prove you're him, you have to show that you can," he replied snottily and crossed his arms.

"_You__'__ve__GOT__to__be__kidding__me,__" _Jake thought to himself. "Alright," he hesitated before standing up. "Here goes nothing," he whispered to himself as he began to sing.

"You better watch out, you better not cry. You better not pout I'm telling you why. Santa Clause is coming to town," he sung loud and clear for all the children to hear as he danced around. He had to hold up his costume to keep it from falling off of his body, and he had come close to tripping numerous times.

"Santa Clause is coming to town," he finished the song as he sat back down in his chair.

A moment of dreadful silence filled the room before the kids began to laugh and cheer.

"He IS the real Santa!" One boy shouted.

"Yay!"

"My turn!"

Jake sighed in relief. He was now very glad that his parents made him sing Christmas songs every year.

The rest of the night went by relatively well. Few kids questioned his size as he had proved to him that he was, in fact, the "real" Santa Clause.

Nevertheless, he was extremely happy when they finally closed, and he quickly went back to change into his normal cloths.

"That," he began as he reentered the room, "was the single most miserable night of my entire life."

Sun giggled. "It's okay Jake," she replied, "you did great considering the circumstances! I just want to thank you again for doing this for me!"

Jake sighed. "You're welcome, Sun," he finally smiled. "After all, helping people is what Christmas is all about."

"Jake," Rose walked into the room, completely changed back into her normal cloths. "I just want to say that," she began, "you did great out there! Even your lies didn't suck too badly," she smiled.

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

"And," she reached for his hand, "I think it's really sweet that you did that for all of those kids," she told him softly. "That was really nice of you," she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

"Well," he scratched the back of his head, "Sun seemed really desperate, and I'll admit that," he hesitated for a brief moment, "It was kind of fun."

Rose giggled and wrapped her arms around him. "I love you, Dragon Boy."

"I love you, too," he smiled back, enjoying the moment.

"And I just have to say that…" she paused for a moment, "you were the most pathetic excuse for Santa Clause that I have ever seen," she smirked.

"You're hilarious," he smiled sarcastically and leaned in to kiss her on the lips.

**XX**

**Sorry guys! No time to proof-read this! I'm in a hurry at the moment...though I'd get this out here so you can read now. I'll go back and fix stuff later. Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed! You're support is AWESOME! Lol...and Noble, I don't have time to read your theme right now, but I'm really excited! Read it when I get home! :D **

**Thanks again!**

**~ada**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Fourth Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Sledding Contest for Christmas Donations**

**Title: Mud Sledding **

"Still no sign of snow," Haley looked out the window sadly at the dead and brown grass. Not a trace of the fluffy white stuff was visible at all.

"Ah man," Jake yawned as he walked over to where his sister was standing. "How are we supposed to have the sledding contest today if there's no snow to sled on?"

It was mid-December, however, there still hadn't been even an inch of snowfall in New York City. They were going through a particularly dry season, and they weren't supposed to get snow until late January at the very earliest. In addition, it had been unseasonable warm, so even if precipitation was likely, it would only fall down as a rain/ice mixture.

"And," Haley added on to what her brother had started, "how are we supposed to raise money to buy presents for children whose families can't afford it?"

Jake sighed. "I don't know, Haley. It's too bad really," he stared blankly out the window. "Those poor kids deserve to get some presents for Christmas."

"Well, no one's called us to cancel yet," Haley noted hopefully. The organization that was running the contest had been calling around informing the contestants for the past few days that the sledding contest might have to be cancelled if no snow was on the ground, and now they were out of time. The contest was supposed to be today.

They couldn't afford a fake snow machine, and there was no possible way to push back the date of the contest. If they were going to use the money to buy Christmas presents, they needed it now. Christmas was just right around the corner.

Jake was about to respond when the phone began to ring.

"Ugh," Haley rubbed her forehead. "I really don't want to answer that."

Jake sighed as he walked over to the telephone and picked it up.

"Hello?" He hesitated for a moment before he spoke.

"Is this the Long residence?" The person on the other end asked.

"Yes it is," Jake replied, "this is Jake."

"Hi Jake," the man responded, "this is Evan Davis from the New York City Children foundation. As you've probably seen, there's no snow outside at all, so as of now, we are cancelling the sledding contest," he explained sadly. "However, we are trying to think of possible solutions or an alternative activity of some sort. We'll just go ahead and give you a call if anything changes."

"Alright," Jake replied, trying not to sound disappointed. "Thank you very much."

"No problem, Jake," the man replied. "Merry Christmas!" He added before hanging up.

Jake sighed as he hung up the phone.

"No sledding contest?" Haley asked judging from the look on Jake's face.

"No sledding contest," he confirmed gloomily. "As of now," he added a little bit lighter. "they are trying to find some sort of solution."

Haley plopped down on the couch. "There has to be something we could do," she replied gloomily. "Is there any way we can sled without snow?"

"Sledding without snow," Jake replied slowly thinking it through. "I've never heard of it before, but it has to be possible in some way! All you need is a slippery hill," he thought aloud. "It doesn't necessarily have to be snow that makes it slippery."

"Well," Haley began thoughtfully, "water makes things slippery sometimes. It's makes things muddy too, and mud is slippery," she offered.

"Hmmm," Jake thought about what his sister was suggesting. "That might work. Though I can see it working better in the Summer. I don't see why it wouldn't work if it's above freezing temperature out there," he pondered as he walked over to the window.

"I'll look up the temperature," Haley rushed over to the computer and began searching. "Got it!" She yelled back after only a few seconds. "It is," she scanned the page, "41 degrees Fahrenheit out there."

"Dang," Jake looked out the window. "That's crazy! Doesn't whoever is in charge of the temperature know that it's mid-December?"

"Apparently not," Haley shrugged, "but it's 9 degrees above freezing. I don't think the water would freeze. It would be extremely cold though."

"Where would we get the water?" Jake asked.

"I dunno," Haley shrugged. Then and idea popped into her head. "I remember one summer at camp, the fire department came to talk to us about fire safety," she began. "After they were done, they sprayed water all over the ground to make it muddy and we had a giant mud fight."

"So you're saying that maybe the fire trucks could supply the water?" Jake tried to understand where she was going with this.

"Yup," she replied.

"I don't know, Haley," Jake sighed. "Don't you think they have better things to do?"

"Well," Haley argued, "this is for charity. It's Christmas for goodness sake!"

Jake thought it through for a moment. "Okay," he finally said, "I'm going to call that Evan guy back and see what he thinks."

Jake walked over to the phone and dialed in the same number that had called a few minutes before.

The phone rang a couple times before someone picked up.

"Hello?" A male voice answered.

"Hi," Jake began, "is this Evan Davis?"

"Yes," the man replied.

"This is Jake Long," Jake spoke quickly. "You just called me a few minutes ago concerning the sledding contest."

"Yes,"

"Well," Jake hesitated for a moment, "my sister and I thought it through a little bit, and we've discovered that you really don't need snow to sled. All you need," he continued, "is a hill that's slippery. So would if," he paused for a moment to find the right words, "we made it slippery using water? Kind of like a waterslide."

Evan paused for a moment. "Do you think that would work? Would the water freeze?"

"Well," Jake responded, "it's 41 degrees out, so it shouldn't, and even if it did, it would just make it icy and therefore even more slippery. And we were thinking maybe we could get the water from the fire department."

"Well," the man replied slowly, "I think that it's worth a shot!"

"Great!" Jake silently did a fist pump.

"But would you and your sister mind coming to try it out before we call everyone else?" He asked. "You know, just to make sure that it works like we think it will."

"Sounds good to me!" Jake replied enthusiastically.

"Great!" Evan answered. "Can you meet me at the hill in a half an hour?"

"Works for me," he shrugged.

"Great!" Evan answered. "I'll get in touch with the New York City Fire Department and see if they can help us out. People are suckers for charity work," he added. "Thanks and see you soon!"

"Yup," Jake said hanging up the phone.

"We're going to try it," he turned to Haley with a bright smile on his face. "Go get your snow gear on. We have to be there in 30 minutes."

Haley didn't need to be told twice as she hurriedly ran up the stairs.

Jake pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number he knew by heart.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rose," Jake replied into the speaker, "can you do me a favor?"

**XX**

A half an hour later, Jake, Haley, and Rose arrived at the top of the hill the sledding contest was supposed to be held on. They found Evan and a few other people Jake assumed were also in charge of the contest standing nearby.

"Hey," Evan called out. "You must be Jake!" He walked over to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you to," Jake nodded back.

"Well," Evan wasted no time, "I called the fire department and they stopped by to get this hill a little wet. They said they'd come back later if we decided that this is what we want to do," he added. "If we do decide to try this, we are probably going to need the water running while people are sledding, so they'd have to stay for awhile. It only lasts an hour, so they think they can make time for us. Like I said," he continued, "people are suckers for charity. They even donated some money to help our cause," he grinned happily.

"That's great!" Jake replied. "So now all we have to do is try this out," he looked down at the somewhat muddy and wet hill.

It was cold outside. It was definitely cold outside, but it wasn't cold enough for the water to freeze. The water would definitely be freezing cold though.

"So Jake," Rose finally spoke, "maybe you should try this out since it was your idea," she gave him a devious grin.

"You just want to see me get humiliated, don't you?" He looked back at her.

"Yeah pretty much," she replied honestly, and Haley nodded along with her.

"Well Jake," Evan held out one of the sleds. "Wanna give it a try?"

Jake looked down at the muddy hill and then back at Evan. "I guess so," he hesitated before talking the sled out of his hand and setting it on the ground.

"I'll push you," Rose offered quickly as Jake sat down on the sled.

"Oh boy," Jake looked down. "This just doesn't feel right without snow."

"Don't be such a wimp," Haley scoffed off to the side.

"Okay," Rose held on to the back of the sled, "on the count of three," she told him.

"One…Two…," she hesitated, "three!" And with that, she pushed the sled as hard as she possibly could…And off he went.

Jake felt the cold December air fly by him as he sped down the hill. It was not as fast as snow, but it was fast enough to be somewhat entertaining. Mud was flying up from all directions, and some of it was splattering on his clothing. Out of the blue, however, he hit some sort of giant rock, sending the sled flying into the air and sending him tumbling to the ground. He landed face first in the mud, and the sled landed on top of him.

He instantly heard a wave of laughter coming from the top of the hill. He groaned as he lifted the sled off of his body and looked up. Everyone was laughing at him, and he couldn't help but laugh a little at himself; here he was, mud sledding in December, and he had just fallen into the mud and was now completely covered in it.

As he got up, he noticed that he had gotten pretty far down the hill. Farther than he had expected anyways. It was a long walk to the top.

When he finally got there, he was congratulated by everyone to have made it as far as he did.

"Was it fun?" Haley asked immediately.

"Yeah," Jake nodded, "even falling in the mud wasn't so bad," he laughed. "It's kind of a strange little twist on sledding. It was kind of neat though."

"Was it fast enough?" Evan asked.

"It wasn't bad," Jake replied thoughtfully. "If we had the water running while the sled was going down the hill, it would be much faster though!"

Evan looked down at his watch. "We've got five hours before the contest is supposed to start. Do you think we can pull this off?" He asked the three.

"I think it's worth a shot," Jake nodded. "It was fun, even though that mud is as cold as hell!" He laughed.

"And I think we need to do whatever we can to raise that money to buy those kids some Christmas presents," Rose nodded in agreement.

"Alright then," Evan nodded. "I'll get in touch with everyone in the contest and inform them of our plans and see if they still want to do it," he pulled out his phone. "I'll also try to get back in touch with the fire department and see what they think."

"Great!" Jake replied.

"See you then?" Evan asked them.

"You bet," Jake smiled.

**XX**

Dozens of kids and teens stood at the top of the hill absolutely covered in mud. The contest had been a blast, and there had been a ton of last minute entries after the public had found out that they planned to use mud.

Sure, it had been extremely cold and messy, but it had also been a lot of fun. The rules of the contest had been changed to fit the new circumstances. The winner would be the person who, after sledding down the hill three times, had the least mud on their clothing. In this case, Haley was the winner.

"Why does this not surprise me?" Jake turned to ask Rose as Evan handed Haley a first place trophy. His face was once again covered in mud as he had once again fallen into the mud.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Stop," she nudged him. "This isn't just a contest. There is more to it than that," she answered. "This is for a good cause."

Rose too was absolutely covered in mud. She had not fallen off of her sled, but she had been going fast enough to wear lots of mud splashed back at her, and boy was it cold!

"This has been fun," she added, "but now it's time for me to go home and shower," she laughed. "And then maybe I'll sit next to the fire place with some hot chocolate and warm up."

"That sounds like a nice plan," Jake nodded. "I think I might do something like that. I'm freezing!"

"Hey," a voice came up from behind the two.

Jake and Rose turned to see Evan walking toward them.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving the contest," he told them. "You two and Haley are going to make some little kids very happy on Christmas morning."

"No problem!" Jake beamed. "That's what the Christmas spirit is all about, right? Helping others."

"Exactly," Evan smiled. "That's why it's great to have people like you three in the world!"

"How much money did we raise?" Rose asked.

"A couple hundred dollars," he answered smiling. "That's even better than last year, and a lot of people had fun playing in the mud!"

Jake shrugged. "I guess good things can happen when it's unseasonable warm outside."

"You bet," Evan replied happily as he turned to leave. "Merry Christmas!" He called back waving his hand.

"Merry Christmas!" The two shouted back.

"Well," Jake sighed tiredly, "we did good."

"I'm proud of you," Rose told him honestly. "It's so sweet that you care so much about this charity project that you improvised to fit the weather conditions."

Jake blushed a little bit. "Yeah well," he scratched the back of his head, "I just love Christmas."

"Me too," Rose smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

**XX**

**This was inspired by the unseasonable warm weather where I live. No snow on the ground right now and temperature in the 40's. It's been RAINING all week. RAINING! I don't remember the last time it's rained in December. So no, the unseasonable warm weather thing isn't that farfetched. Lol. **

**Thanks to those of you who have reviewed! Your input has been truly valuable. :) **

**Thanks for reading! **

**~ada**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Fifth Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Christmas Party**

**Title: A Christmas Lesson**

"I just want to say that I think this is a bad idea," Trixie said putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh come on, Trix!" Jake smiled back at her. "It's Christmas! Lighten up a little bit!"

It was only a few short weeks before Christmas, and Jake's parents were out at a Christmas party for Jonathan's business. In the meantime, Jake had decided that he wanted to throw a little party of his own, and he decided to invite over a few friends.

"Besides," he continued, "what my parents don't know can never hurt them! And," he added thoughtful, "I only invited a few people. Haley's at a friend's for the night, my parents won't be here till midnight, and I only invited you, Spud, Rose, and like five other people."

"Okay Jakey," Trixie replied hesitantly as she continued to help him set up some of the Christmas decorations. "It's your house."

"It's not like we are gonna be drinking or anything," Jake shot back. "We are just gonna chill out here in the living room and listen to some music. Maybe eat a few snacks, watch some tv," he listed off some ideas. "It won't be wild."

"Mkay," Trixie shook her head just as the doorbell rang.

"Oh! People are here!" Jake rushed towards to door to greet his guests.

"Hey!" He flung open the door with a smile, but his smile quickly vanished at the sight. There were people. Lots of people. Probably twenty or thirty standing outside his door.

"Hey Jake," one kid finally spoke. "I brought along some of my friends. That's cool, right?"

"Errm," Jake took a moment to look at all of the people standing in front of his house. "Ye…yeah man that's," he hesitated, "that's cool…I guess," he moved out of the way to let people come in.

And they didn't hesitate. Teenagers of all kinds came flooding into his house, instantly ripping down some of the decorations that Jake and Trixie had worked so hard to set up. People tracked mud and snow onto the carpet, and it was only a matter of seconds before the whole living room was a mess.

"And you were saying?" Jake heard Trixie's voice over his shoulder.

"Okay," Jake paused for a moment to catch his breath, "so this wasn't the brightest idea I've ever come up with."

"Ya think?" Trixie shot him a look.

"Okay," Jake tried to calm himself down. It was getting so loud that he could barely hear his own voice. People just kept coming in the door, which had been left wide open by the first mob of people. "It's," Jake looked down at his watch, "about 9:00. If we end this party at 11:00 and get everyone out, we can have this place cleaned up and looking good as new by the time my parents get home."

"Jake!" A familiar voice came from behind Jake and Trixie. "Buddy! This party is off the hook!" Jake turned to see Spud dancing (quite terribly) to whatever song the crazy mob of people had put on.

"I didn't know this many people would be here," Jake heard a voice coming from behind Spud that he recognized as Rose's. "I thought you invited like, ten people, Jake," she pushed her way past some people to get a little closer so she didn't have to yell.

"Yeah well," Jake scowled, "I only invited about ten people."

"I see," Rose looked nervously around the room. The party looked like it was pretty wild. "Well, that's how that goes, right? But don't worry," she added seeing his facial expression. "I'll help you with the cleanup after the parties over."

"Thanks," he sighed managing a small smile, "you're the best."

"I know," she nodded flirtatiously. "Now try to have some fun," she suggested. "That's what parties are for, right?"

"You're right," he looked around at everyone else. They seemed to be having a pretty good time.

Jake drug Rose out to the part of his living room that had become the dance floor, and they danced for a little while before they were interrupted by someone Jake didn't even know.

"Jake!" The kid came running over to him.

"What's wrong?" Jake noted his panicked expression.

"Oh man," the kid was breathing heavy from running, "there are people upstairs…quite a few. And they are making quite a bit of a really big mess!" The boy threw his hands in the air. "Oh," and added at the last minute, "there are also some people making out on your bed."

"What?" Jake yelled over the loud, pulsing music as he let go of Rose's hands and ran over to the stairs. When he reached the top, there was a group of teenagers standing there having a simple conversation. He ran past them and flung open to door to his bedroom.

Sure enough, there were two people in there. They stopped kissing when they noticed he was standing there.

"Parties downstairs only," Jake informed them coolly. They just gave him a blank stare back in reply before they headed out into the hallway.

Jake then proceeded to open every other door upstairs and inform the people in it that they needed to remain downstairs.

"Ugh," he mumbled as finally got everyone back into the living room area. He only wanted to have to clean up one room.

He found Rose and drug her over to the stairs before sitting down.

"This is insane!" He threw his hands up in the air. "My house is a mess, people are being loud and obnoxious, AND people were making out on my bed!" He screamed. "It's just not right to do stuff on other people's beds…seriously. Not right."

"Jake," Rose put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's," she glanced at the clock, "10:30. Only a half an hour left. You can handle thirty more minutes, right?"

"I hope so," Jake sighed as he heard something break off in the distance. "This is getting a little bit out of hand."

"I've always wanted to throw a big party for Christmas, and now I see why my parents never let me," Jake finally laughed a little. "Besides, Christmas is a time to spend with your family. If they don't disown me after all of this…" Jake added after thinking about it.

"They won't disown you," Rose assured him. "We might even be able to make it so they never find out."

"Yeah," Jake scoffed. "Right. Look at this place!"

Rose looked around. It was, indeed a disaster. Snacks and drinks were spilled all over the floor, as well as party decorations, mud, snow, and other strange objects. In addition, things had been broken, and that would be the hardest thing to explain to Susan and Jonathan.

"Well," Rose looked back at Jake, "I don't see why we can't try."

Jake sighed. "You're right. Want some food?"

"Sure if it's not all on the floor," she joked as Jake got up to search for something. He came back a few minutes later holding a bowl of Chex Mix.

"I wonder how much of this Chex Mix ended up on the floor," he joked, but then he looked around seriously. "I think this stuff would be hard to clean up," he grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth.

"I guess we'll see," Rose shrugged in response.

As the clock neared 11:00, people began to leave. Jake assumed their reasoning for doing so was so that they wouldn't be asked to stick around and help clean up, and looking at the place, he couldn't blame them.

He was surprised though at how quickly everyone had left. Only about fifteen people, including himself, remained.

As the last few people filtered out, Trixie, Spud, and Rose stuck around to help clean up. In the light and with no bodies blocking their line of vision, the four could now fully see the extent of the damage. It was going to be a very stressful hour.

"Alright," Jake clapped his hands together and gathered in a circle with his friends. "Here's the game plan; Trixie," he turned to face his friend, "You've got the entire second floor. It's not too bad, but there are some spills and such. Spud," he continued, "You are going to be vacuuming and cleaning stuff off of the floor. Rose and I will go around picking up decorations and cleaning off the walls, scrubbing the floors where there are stains, etc."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"We have one hour," Jake acknowledged. "Can we do this?"

"Yes," the three replied.

"Alright on three!" Jake clapped again and huddled closer to his friends. "One, two, three break!" He shouted before they all ran off in separate directions.

After Jake got going, he realized that they had the ability to get everything cleaned up before his parents got home at midnight. Yes, the damage was pretty bad, but there were four people working on it, and it was not as bad as he had anticipated.

Jake went to grab a bucket of water and a wash cloth to begin working on the stains while Spud got out the vacuum and began to clean up all of the crumbs. Since the sound of the vacuum was very loud, Spud felt the need to sing at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, the vacuum wasn't loud enough.

Rose actually had ended up helping Trixie upstairs as it also needed to be vacuumed. Some of the beds needed to be fixed in addition.

Much to their surprise, the group of four had the house looking completely back to normal by a quarter to midnight with fifteen full minutes to spare.

"Ugh," Jake plopped down on the couch, shortly followed by Rose, Trixie, and Spud. "I am so tired."

"Aren't we all, bro," Spud agreed. "Vacuuming while singing really takes the life out of you."

"Now Jakey," Trixie leaned forward to get a better look at her friend. "I don't mean to brag or anything, but I told you that this was a bad idea."

"I know Trix," Jake put his hands up defensively. "I know, and I'll consider it a lesson learned."

"Good," Trixie smiled in response, "because you know we won't always be here to bail you out."

"I know," Jake sighed. "But thanks guys! You're the best!" He smiled brightly, truly grateful to have such wonderful friends.

"No problem," Rose beamed.

Jake reached for the remote. "We should probably watch tv and make it look like we are doing something innocent," he pressed the button and SpongeBob popped up on the screen.

"YES!" Spud exclaimed jumping off of the couch. "This is my favorite show! Can we watch? Please please pleeeeease?" He begged his friends.

"I guess so," Jake shook his head and set down the remote. Everyone had to kind of enjoy watching Sponge Bob every once in awhile.

Almost exactly as the clocked turned to 12:00 am, Jake's parents walked through the door.

"Hi kids!" Jonathan greeted Trixie, Rose, and Spud when he realized that Jake was not alone in the house. "How you been?"

"Oh pretty good," Trixie replied casually.

"What did you do tonight?" Susan set down her purse and took off her coat before walking over to her son and his friends.

"Oh," Jake looked at his friends before looking back at his mom with a smile. "Just the usual."

**XX**

**This isn't one of my favorites…Hope you enjoyed it to some extent anyways. Happy fifth day of Christmas! Lol. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~ada**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Sixth Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Jake and Rose Gift Exchange**

**Title: Present Problem **

Rose pushed the door open and stepped inside Lao Shi's shop. She shuddered for a moment from the cold she had just encountered outside. It was well below zero, and she had had to walk quite a ways to get there, but she knew it would be worth it.

Today was the day she and Jake were going to exchange their Christmas gifts for each other, and she couldn't be more excited to see his reaction when he opened her gift. She truly felt that she had found exactly what he wanted, as she had heard him saying that he needed one.

She rubbed her shoes on the rug in hopes of getting rid of all of the snow, however, when she stepped onto the wooden floor and began to walk, her shoes were squeaking with every step.

Rose entered the back room to find Jake and Fu dog deep in a conversation about pancakes. She stood waiting for a couple of moments before she finally cleared her throat to let them know that she was there.

"Rose?" Jake turned his head to look at her, clearly confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Um," Rose thought it over for a second. She could have sworn this was the right day and time. "Isn't this the day that we were supposed to exchange Christmas presents?" She asked him.

Jake stared blankly for a moment before replying. "Oh yeah!" He finally said. "I guess it just slipped my mind," he added. "I….erm…have your present somewhere and we need to go and pick it up."

"Okay," Rose shrugged. "Well, yours is right here," she pulled out a tiny package and set it down on the coffee table. "I don't know if you want to open it now or later."

"It can wait," Jake replied a little too quickly as he scratched the back of his head. "So…ummm…shall we go then?"

"I guess so," Rose eyed him suspiciously. He was acting even stranger than he acted when he was trying to be normal.

"Alright then!" Jake ran over and opened the door for her. "Ladies first!" He waved her in front.

"Jake," she sighed, "where are we going? We aren't going to have to walk too far, are we?"

"Can't tell," Jake grabbed her hand and pulled her along. "It's a surprise! You'll see."

**XX**

Jake had no idea what he was doing.

He had completely forgotten about the whole gift exchanging thing all together. Not just the date, but the fact that he actually had to go out and buy his girlfriend a present, and now he was in deep trouble.

Jake had no idea where he was leading her to and what he was going to do once they got there. He was completely making things up he went.

As it turned out, he ended up leading her to the subway station. The same subway station, in fact, that Rose had been on only a few minutes prior.

If he was going to find Rose the perfect gift, Magus Bazaar was the place to look. Some of the neatest magical items ever made were sold right off the streets.

But he had to play it cool. He had to make sure that it looked like he knew exactly where he was going and what he was picking up. He had explained to Rose that it was already paid for and everything.

This was going to be tricky.

**XX**

"Man I could have sworn that today was only the 18th instead of the 19th," Jake made up excuses as the couple strolled through Magus Bazaar. "I guess I've just been so busy with dragon training lately that the time has just flown by! Haven't even had time for homework," he shot her an obviously fake smile and scratched the back of his head.

"That's okay, Jake," Rose smiled back, "as long as you didn't forget we were exchanging gifts."

"What? Bsssh…," Jake waved his hand and scoffed at the idea. "Baby, Please!" Jake held up his hands defensively. "I'd never forget about something this important!"

"Oh look!" He said changing the subject. "There's a hot chocolate stand! Want some?"

"Umm," Rose hesitated for a moment, "it's like regular hot chocolate isn't it? Not weird or anything?"

"Not really," Jake thought about it for a moment. "It's just your typical Christmassy hot cocoa."

"Kay," Rose shrugged, "sounds kind of good! I am pretty cold."

"Awesome," Jake walked over to the stand and had a short conversation with the magical creature running it. Rose couldn't tell what they were talking about, but every once and awhile, Jake would point over toward her.

After a couple minutes of watching Jake talk, he came back holding two hot chocolates.

"You didn't have to pay?" Rose asked him, clearly confused.

"Nope," Jake shook his head and shot her a cocky smile. "I'm the Am Drag," he said. "They never make me pay for stuff like this around here."

They walked a little further, and Jake scanned the shops for one he knew would have something nice he could buy for Rose. He was extremely thankful that he had bought her gifts from Magus Bazaar in the past, and he knew the places that would be best for him to go.

He finally found one of his favorite shops to buy gifts for his mom, sister, and girlfriend. It was a magical jewelry shop. Of course, he didn't get the expensive necklaces, rings, and bracelets there for free, but he did get them at a discounted price.

Now he just had to figure out what he was going to do about Rose. Then he got an idea.

"Alright, Rose," he stopped and turn to face her. "I'm going to go in here and get your gift from behind the counter. It might not be wrapped yet, so stay out here and wait for me to get back," he instructed her.

"Alright," Rose shrugged and didn't think twice about what he told her to do.

"Great!" He pecked her on the cheek. "Be right back!" He added as he pushed the door open and walked into the store.

"May I help you?" The female elf behind the counter asked him.

"Yes!" Jake shot back instantly. "See my girlfriend is waiting outside, and I told her I was just going in to pick up her present," he explained. "In truth, I totally forgot to buy her a present! I need something quick, awesome, affordable, and wrapped," he finished with a somewhat panicked expression on his face.

"Hey," the elf replied. "Aren't you the American Dragon?"

Jake straightened up instantly and put on friendly smile. "Why yes," he spoke through his fake smile, "yes I am."

"Hmm," she thought about it for a second. "I have just the thing! Follow me," she motioned with her hand that he needed to come along.

She led him to an isle with medium priced necklaces and stopped when she reached a beautiful red stoned necklace. It was pretty good sized, and it had a golden dragon carved into the front.

"Not only is it pretty," the elf explained to Jake, "but it will light up when she is wearing it and finds herself in any sort of danger. This," she held up a little red diamond that came with the necklace, "is for you to keep on your watch or something. It will also light up and flash when she is in trouble. That way, you will always know if she's okay."

Jake starred at the necklace for a moment. It was pretty. And he did like the idea of knowing that Rose was safe all the time.

"I'll take it!" He decided after thinking about it for only a few seconds.

"Great!" She replied. "I'll go wrap it up for you and have it ready in a second."

Jake pulled out his wallet while she was doing that.

"Since you're the American Dragon, you do get quite a big discount," she informed him as she rang up his total.

"Awesome thank you so much!" He smiled brightly at her as he handed her the money, took the package, and headed for the door.

"Got it!" He told Rose as soon as he got back outside.

"Great! That didn't take too long," she acknowledged.

"Let's head back to the shop to open these up!" Jake suggested. He was just relieved that he finally got Rose a present.

**XX**

"Okay," Rose spoke as she plopped back down on the couch and handed Jake the small present. "You open yours first."

Jake did what she said and took the small package out of her hands. He took off the bow and began to unwrap it.

"Awesome! Rose how did you know that I wanted this?" He asked her in amazement.

"I overheard you saying that you needed a new one," she smiled at his happiness as he pulled the new silver watch out of the box."

"Thanks!" He smiled and handed her the gift he had bought only minutes before.

"Now you open yours," he instructed her.

Rose took the gift out of his hands and opened the bag. She pulled out the stunning red necklace and held it up in the light.

"Jake, this is beautiful!" She told him sincerely.

"It's a magical necklace," he beamed. "If you're ever in any trouble, this little red light here," he held up the piece that had come with it, "will start flashing. I'll have it with me, and I'll know if you need help," he explained.

Rose reached behind her neck and put the necklace on. It was, in fact, a great gift idea.

"Thanks," Rose smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Now, Jake," she said before he could say anything else. "You forgot about the gift exchange, didn't you?" Her voice was serious, but she was still smiling.

"Yeah," he said a little too quickly, "I told you earlier…I thought yesterday was today!" He tried to cover up again.

"Not just that," she smirked. "You forgot we were even doing this, didn't you?"

There was a brief silence before Jake finally spoke.

"Maybe,"

"Maybe," Rose repeated slowly, still smiling deviously.

Jake sighed. "I'm such an idiot."

"Hey," Rose rolled her eyes and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, okay? You're not a loser," she noticed he was avoiding eye contact. "Look at me," she demanded and he finally did. "I know you have a lot going on in your life, and these past few weeks have been extremely stressful for you. I understand, Jake," she smiled honestly.

"Okay," he finally smiled again. "I am sorry though. You know I love you."

"Well I love you too," she laughed a little, "but it I was dating anyone else and they forgot, I'd be pissed."

Jake laughed. "Well, I'd hate to make you pissed! You'd probably slay me!"

"Yeah maybe," she joked as she reached down to grab his hand.

"How did you find out anyway?" Jake asked her curiously.

Rose laughed a little bit before she answered her boyfriend's question. "Because, Jake Long," she finally said, the devious smile on her face growing, "you are a TERRIBLE liar."

**XX**

**Jake really is a very bad liar…**

**Just your typical ADJL oneshot...Jake being...Jake. Lol. **

**Once again, thanks to those of you who read and review, which is everyone reading this message. Lol. Hope you enjoyed!**

**~ada**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Seventh Day of Christmas **

**Theme: Christmas Vacation**

**Title: A Hellish Holiday**

_Ding Dong._

The sound of the doorbell turned the heads of all four members of the Long family, who had been peacefully watching television in the living room.

They knew who it was, and they had been dreading this day and hour for more than a month now.

The doorbell rang again.

Still, no one made any move to get up off the couch and open it.

After the third and final impatient ring, Susan hesitated before standing. She sighed and slowly walked over to the door. She cracked it open to see who it was, and she was not surprised to find out. It was exactly who they had been waiting on, and much to her dismay, the people waiting impatiently on her doorstep were already bickering.

Susan sighed. "Come on in, Cathy," she finally noted her cousin's presence.

"Susan!" She put on a fake and cheesy smile. "Wonderful to see you and your family again!" She moved aside to let the rest of the family into the small apartment.

"Thanks for letting us have Christmas at your house this year," she thanked Susan, but it sounded insincere and ungrateful.

"So when's dinner?" Gregory entered the house and leaned casually against the back of the door.

"Soon," Susan replied through clenched teeth. This was already so difficult.

The entire family of about twelve migrated toward the kitchen to wait, and Susan frantically looked down at her watched. It was only 11:30. The food wouldn't be ready for another half an hour or so.

"Hey, mom," Jake interrupted her thoughts, "I'll be hiding in my room, kay?"

Susan rubbed her forehead. "Jake," she began pleadingly, "can you please stay out here and help me? Or at the very least keep me from killing someone?"

Jake looked into his mother's pleading eyes and couldn't help but do what she asked.

"Okay mom," he nodded reluctantly. "Only," he glanced at his watch, "five more hours and they are gone. Off to a hotel somewhere."

"Right," Susan nodded confidently, "we can do this!"

"Hey! Give that back!" A voice shouted from the kitchen.

"I'm gonna pour this gravy all over you!" Someone else screamed back.

"Maybe," Jake shot his mother a worried look.

"Uggh," she rolled her eyes. "I better go save my gravy," she said walking toward the kitchen.

As soon as she walked into the packed full kitchen, she was attacked by Gregory.

"Have you seen Jake?" He asked her in a very annoying and childish tone.

"I think he's in the living room," she replied gloomily, hoping that he would leave. She sighed with relief when he turned to walk out of the kitchen. "Sorry, Jake," she muttered to herself. She was sure that no one would be able to hear her over the sound of all of the talking and screaming.

"Hey cousin," Gregory greeted Jake, who was lying face down on the couch.

"Hi," Jake responded in an unfriendly tone.

"You know," he began in his snobby child-like voice, "I really think that cousins should greet each other a little better than that, don't you?"

Jake cursed inwardly. This kid was the main reason he had dreaded this day so long. Now, he was forced to pretend to exchange friendly and cousinly words.

"Hello cousin," Jake smiled through clenched teeth, "how wonderful to see you once more."

"Better," Gregory sat down on the couch, forcing Jake to move his feet.

"So how's life?" His cousin asked casually.

"Fine," Jake shrugged, "until today," he muttered quietly.

"What was that?" Gregory shot back almost accusingly.

"I didn't say anything," Jake lied, throwing his hands up defensively.

"Right," his cousin said sarcastically. "I bet I'm still a better dragon than you," he said out of nowhere in a bragging and snobbish way.

"You never were to begin with," Jake did his best to not let his cousin anger him. He stuffed his face back into the pillow on the couch.

"Well, I did beat you in the competition we had back on the island," he bragged back, folding his arms over his chest.

"No you didn't," Jake scoffed finally sitting up. "You only won in your psycho little mind. What's your problem anyway?"

"Me?" Gregory pretended to be offended. "I don't have a problem."

Jake was about to shoot something back at him when his mother entered the living room.

"Umm Jake, Gregory," she spoke nervously, most likely because of how terrible things were going. "It's time to eat now if you could both join us in the kitchen."

The two shot each other one final glare before following Susan back into the kitchen to eat.

The kitchen turned out to be unbelievably loud. People were screaming and fighting, even the adults. Everyone was, once again, acting like five year olds.

Almost everyone already had their food, so Jake and Gregory went ahead and filled up their plates before sitting down in the only two available seats.

Before anyone knew what was going to happen, pudding came flying across the room and into Jake's hair.

Jake froze instantly, partially from shock, partially from anger.

"Who," he turned around angrily, "just threw that?"

As he suspected, no one said anything, and for the first time since his relatives had arrived, it was completely silent.

"FIGGY PUDDING FIGHT!" Someone shouted, breaking the silence after a few seconds as all of the little kids began throwing pudding all over the place.

"Stop!" Susan shouted standing up and pushing her chair back, but instead of listening, the children simply threw a handful of putting right at her face.

"Cathy," Susan turned desperately to her cousin. "Stop your children!"

"Now kids," Cathy began standing up, but only received the same treatment as Susan. Before she knew it, she was covered in pudding.

As she was scraping it off, some of it was "accidentally" thrown in Susan's direction.

"Hey!" She acknowledged that Cathy had done that purposely. "I thought we were adults here," she growled at her.

"Susan, please," Cathy glared back, "I didn't fling that pudding at you on purpose," she added. Susan could tell she was lying by the devious smile on her face.

"Everyone in the living room!" Susan shouted over the commotion, finally managing to stop the pudding war that had taken place. "Now!" She added, pointing the way out.

To her surprise and relief, everyone did as she said without question, and took their arguments, minus the pudding, out to the living room. Then, she ran up the stairs and to the bathroom to wash her face.

**XX**

It was even louder than it had been before, and it was giving Jake a major headache. This was definitely worse than any of his family's crazy traditions. This was a nightmare.

Everyone continued to fight. Arguments ranged anywhere from who started the pudding fight to who got to open their presents first.

If it got any louder, the neighbors might even call the police. It almost sounded like someone was going to get hurt.

Finally making up his mind, Jake walked over to the couch and stood on top of it.

"Everyone SHUT UP!" He screamed as loud as possible, and surprisingly, everyone stopped their bickering to listen to what he had to say.

He paused for a minute to catch his breath. All of this fighting sure was exhausting.

"Since the moment you all got here, all we've been doing is fighting," Jake was still speaking loudly even though there was no one to talk over. "We aren't acting like a family at all! And isn't that what Christmas is about?" He asked them. "Being a family?"

No one said anything.

"Some people," Jake continued after the brief silence, "don't even have a family to celebrate Christmas with, or they just hate each other so much that they don't celebrate Christmas together," he explained. "Which may be us some day," he added after a moment.

"So we need to be thankful for what we have, and we need to be thankful that everyone made the trip to New York so that we can all spend Christmas together," Jake finished, and once again, no one said anything for a moment.

"Jake's right," Haley finally spoke walking over to the couch and jumping up on it to stand next to him.

"Yeah," everyone turned to each other and acknowledged what Jake had just said.

"So let's…umm…" Jake paused for a moment trying to think of a way they could start this Christmas celebration fresh, "let's make some hot cocoa and open presents, kay?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and to Jake and Susan's astonishment, went on talking like normal, civilized human beings.

"Thanks, Jake," Susan came up behind her son and gave him a hug.

"No problem, mom," he smiled. "You looked a little stressed, especially when you had that pudding all over your face," he smirked.

"Yeah let's not talk about that," Susan shook her head. "I'm going to go make the hot chocolate," she informed him as she turned to head to the kitchen.

Jake, on the other hand, turned around to head back over to the couch, but he had not taken three steps before he tripped over something and was sent tumbling to the ground.

It took him a few seconds to realize that that "something" had been Gregory's foot.

He got up slowly to see Gregory laughing hysterically. "And you thought we would all just go along with our Christmas and be friends!" He scoffed.

"This family," Jake growled to himself, "is impossible."

**XX**

**Sorry I posted this so late…I just got home for the first time since I woke up. Lol. No time…I'm just so busy these days. **

**This theme was inspired by the movie "Christmas Vacation," which, on a side note, is one of my favorite Christmas movies! **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~ada**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Eighth Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Snowed In **

**Title: The Canter-Merry Tales **

Rose stared blankly out the front windows of Lao Shi's electronic store. Snow was falling. LOTS of snow was falling, and she was beginning to worry whether or not it was ever going to stop. Sure, it was only the 21st of December, but she didn't want to be stuck in the shop for her entire Christmas break.

However, even if by some chance she did end up snowed in for a week or two, at least she would get to spend Christmas with the people that she cared about the most; Jake, his grandfather, and Fu Dog. They were the closest thing that she had ever had to a real family, and she was grateful for that.

Suddenly she felt a warm hand touch her shoulder. She turned around to see Jake holding a cup of tea.

"Here," he handed it out to her and smiled. "You look kind of cold, and I think we might be here awhile."

Rose could tell by the expression on his face that he had absolutely no problem with being snowed in with her. Though she figured that at some point, he'd start to miss his real family.

"I hope this doesn't turn out like that one movie," Jake walked over to the window and looked around. The door was almost completely buried in snow. If they wanted out, they were going to have to fly out from one of the upstairs windows.

"Oh yeah! That one movie!" Rose playfully shouted back. "Because that narrows it down to EVERYTHING!" She smirked.

"The Day After Tomorrow," he smiled at her as if it were an obvious answer. "The Statue of Liberty was, like, completely buried in snow. A lot of people froze to death," he added factually.

Rose rolled her eyes. "I don't that's going to happen. That was just a movie, Jake," she reached out to grab his hand, mainly because it was incredibly warm. Then again, Jake was always warm. "But I do think that we are going to be in here for a few days," she added softly. "At least until it stops snowing and someone with a giant snow plow comes to dig out the streets and move some of this snow."

"Well," Jake shrugged, clearly not caring, "I guess we are going to have to find creative ways to have fun."

"Like…" She smiled almost seductively at him as she leaned in a little closer.

"I dunno," he lied as he leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers, smiling at her facial expression. Slowly, he moved to kiss her, but as he was a mere millimeter away, all of the lights in the shop shut off at once.

As it was almost 6pm, it was almost pitch black outside. The only reason they had been able to see outside before was because of the street lights, which were now out as well. It appeared that the whole neighborhood had lost power.

"Jake," Rose reached her hands out to feel for him, "where are you."

"Here," he swung his hands around and accidentally smacked her in the face. "Oh, God," he apologized. "I'm sorry. That was an accident."

"Well," Rose tried to keep from laughing. "Now you found me," she replied not showing the least bit worried about the sudden loss of light.

"So now," Jake continued slowly as he felt for her hands, "we are alone AND in the dark."

Rose couldn't see him, but she was sure that he was smiling like an idiot. She wasted no time replying and found his lips instantly. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Hey?"

The two jumped apart when they heard a voice suddenly enter the room.

"Are you two kids in here?" Fu Dog asked.

"Ummm yeah," Jake hesitated for a moment.

"What are you doing here in the dark?" Fu asked, but he instantly regretted it. "What a minute…don't even tell me…" he sighed. "Just meet me in the back room in a couple minutes. Gramps wants to talk to you."

Jake sighed. "You realize we are going to have to make this up later, right?"

Rose laughed and reached out in the dark for his hand. "Come on, lover boy," she dragged him along. "You're grandfather's waiting for us."

When they entered the other room, they saw that Lao Shi had lit three candles and set them on the coffee table. There were also four flash lights and a massive pile of books sitting on the sofa.

"Ah," Lao Shi entered the room with another handful of books, "there you are, Jake," he set the books down on the table and turned to his grandson. "I need you and Rose to research ancient magical artifacts. The more we know about these items, the better we will be able to predict our enemy's moves."

Jake groaned. "Seriously gramps!" He threw his hands up in the air. "The lights are out, and all we would have to read by are these flashlights. It's gonna hurt our eyes," he continued to come up with excuses. "I think in a situation like this, with Christmas in just three days, we need to take advantage of this power outage and make it into something fun!" He added.

"I like fun," Rose shrugged, trying to act indifferent.

"I have an idea," Jake blurted out before his grandfather had a chance to let one word out. "We should just sit here around the candles and tell Christmas stories," he beamed at his own suggestion.

Lao Shi sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Since it is so close to Christmas, if that is what you wish to do, then go ahead."

"Yes!" Jake pumped his fist in the air and plopped down on the couch. "Who wants to go first?" He asked as he motioned for Rose to come and sit down next to him.

"Well," Fu Dog suddenly joined in the conversation, "I do happen to be an excellent story teller. Or so others have told me."

Jake rolled his eyes at his animal guardian. "Mkay Fu," he replied. "Then why don't you go ahead and start."

Fu picked up a flash light and turned it on, shining the light on his face.

"It was an eerie night," he began dramatically. "A giant snowstorm had trapped two teenagers, an old man, and a devilishly handsome Shar Pei in an old electronics store for the night."

"Oh boy," Jake turned and whispered to Rose, who was now snuggled in beside him.

"But it just kept snowing!"Fu Dog threw his paws up and practically screamed. "And snowing and snowing and snowing…and DAYS passed by…and then MONTHS…and pretty soon, they began to run out of food.

"One of the teenagers, a scrawny Asian kid," Fu Dog continued earning a low growl from Jake, "became extremely ill from the cold, and within a week, he died of a combination of a cold and starvation. In order to stay alive, the others had to-"

"Yo, Fu!" Jake cut in. "This is getting pretty graphic!"

"Relax, kid," the dog replied. "It's just a story. Besides, I'm almost finished."

"Ehem," Fu cleared his throat. "In the end, the snow finally stopped, and the beautiful blonde, the grumpy grandpa, and the stunning Shar Pei lived happily ever after. The end," he finished. The end of his tale was followed by a brief silence.

"That," Rose was the first to speak, "was almost offensive."

"I'm certainly hoping that that doesn't happen," Jake added, "because I REALLY don't feel like dying in here," he looked around the shop.

"Well then one of you try telling a good story!" Fu Dog shot back and plopped down on the hard wood floor.

"Jake?" Rose turned to look at him.

"We-well," he stumbled, "I guess I could try."

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Well," he began almost nervously, "There once was a snowman named Frosty."

"How original," Fu rolled his eyes.

"And, well," Jake continued, "he was friends with all the children, but he melted."

There was a brief moment of silence in which the tree stared at him as if expecting him to say something more.

"Yeah that's it," he threw his hands up in the air. "That's all I got."

"Wow," Rose replied after more silence. "That was…yeah…" she drifted off. "How about I tell a little story now," she changed the subject. "I think I've got a good one," she smiled as she pulled away from Jake a little bit.

"Once upon a time, there was this lovely young woman," she began. "She didn't have a lot of money, but she was still very happy because she had a wonderful boyfriend. He meant everything to her."

"Christmas was rapidly approaching, and she had very little money to buy him a present," Rose continued. "However, she tried everything to raise money. She got another job, she took on more hours, and she spent less for her own personal needs."

"Eventually, she raised enough money to buy him the perfect present; a golden skateboard," she shot a quick glance at Jake. "When it came time for the two lovers to finally exchange gifts, she received the perfect gift in return; a beautifully golden locket. As it turned out, her boyfriend had also been working hard to buy her the perfect gift."

"The two realized how well they knew each other and how perfect they really were together. In the end, the couple got married and lived happily ever after, and they shared many many more Christmases together," Rose finished.

"Well," Jake began as Rose snuggled back into him, "It's definitely the best story anyone has told so far."

"Give you any ideas, dragon boy," she shot him a flirty smile.

"Was it supposed to?" He grinned back, pretending that he had no idea what she meant.

"A little sappy for my taste," Fu Dog interrupted their conversation. He now had a big bowl of popcorn, and he was munching away carelessly, spilling kernels all over the floor.

"I hope you know you are cleaning that up," Lao Shi addressed Fu Dog's mess.

"Yeah whatever," the dog shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth. "It's your turn, old man. Show us what you got."

"If you insist," Lao Shi replied quietly. "The history of Chinese New Year goes back thousands of years," Lao Shi began…

***5 Dreadful Hours Later***

"And that is the history of Chinese New Year," Lao Shi finished and awaited the others to speak up. However, the only sound that he heard was that of snoring.

Fu Dog was sprawled out on the floor fast asleep. Popcorn covered the floor, and he had chocolate all over his face.

Jake and Rose were also fast asleep snuggled up in a blanket on the couch.

Lao Shi sighed as he realized that they had probably been asleep for hours. It was, in fact, 3:00 am.

"No one appreciates history anymore," he whispered quietly to himself as he walked up the staircase to his bedroom.

After he was out of sight, Jake made sure that Fu Dog was completely asleep before he nudged his girlfriend awake.

"Hey," he whispered softly in her ear.

"What?" She moaned sleepily.

"Everyone's out," he replied smiling. "I think we should continue what we started earlier."

Rose groaned. "You woke me up just for that?" She rubbed her eyes.

"Yup," he grinned at her proudly.

"How long have you been awake anyway?" She asked him. "Did you even fall asleep?"

"Of course I fell asleep," Jake nodded, "that was the most boring thing I've ever heard in my life," he added. "I woke up around 2:30am, and I couldn't BELIEVE that grandpa was STILL talking! It's amazing the things that man can ramble on about."

"Jake Long," she rolled her eyes, "you are one of a kind," she smirked as she leaned in to finally kiss him…

**XX**

**Kinda cheesy…especially the title. XD Ohhh Imma nerd. Christmas is full of all kinds of cheesy things! And short…probably could have been longer. The problem is…I don't have that kinda time. Lol. I've still got one more of these to write. It is started though…not to worry! **

**Well, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reviewing/reading. **

**~ada**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Ninth Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Decorating the Christmas Tree**

**Title: Oh Christmas Tree**

Jake thought it had been bad when he first fought the Dark Dragon. He thought it had been bad when he had to battle trolls, ogres, and Krakens. He thought it had been bad when he had lost Rose last homecoming.

But to Jake, there was absolutely nothing worse than waking up in the morning to "Barnyard Jingle Bells."

He groaned into his pillow as he rolled out of bed and got dressed. He immediately pulled out the reindeer sweater. Jake figured that he might as well just put it on right away instead of arguing with his parents over it.

Jake left his room and trudged down the stairs and into the living room to see his father, mother, and sister already hard at work.

Today was Christmas tree decorating day.

Though Jake loved decorating the Christmas tree, he wasn't crazy about the rather extreme traditions that his family enforced on him. However, since he had been a bad sport about it the previous year, he decided he was just going to go with it this year.

It was Christmas after all! A time to be happy and to spend quality time with family and friends.

"Good morning, Jakers!" Jonathan greeted his son happily. "Glad to see that you are awake. I have been saving a job especially for you," Jonathan told him excitedly.

"Sure, dad," Jake managed a weak smile. "What do you got for me?"

Jonathan, in response, handed Jake a giant wad of Christmas lights.

"I need to you to untangle these," Jonathan explained, "and once you are done with that, you need to make sure that you check every bulb, son."

"Okay," Jake tried to act just a little bit excited.

He noticed that the Christmas tree was already up and that all that they had left to do was put the lights and bulbs on the tree.

While he went to work untangling the light bulbs, the rest of his family went to work setting up the Christmas decorations, some of which were quite corny.

It must have been an hour before Jake finally managed to untangle the giant wad of lights. It was amazing how tangled they could get after just one year of sitting in the basement.

"All done, Dad," Jake smiled. He was a little bit more awake. It was, after all, almost 10:00 am.

"Terrific son!" Jonathan came over to pat him on the back. "Now to put them on the tree! Here is how it's going to work," he began to explain.

"I am going to stand over here, and you are going to stand on the other side of the tree. I'm going to go around and hand the lights off to you and you are going to go around and hand them back to me," he explained to Jake. "It will go faster that way."

In all honesty, Jake didn't believe that it would make much of a difference at all.

"Alrighty," Jonathan began to walk with the string of lights, but instantly tripped over the cord and fell face first into the carpet.

Jake did a face palm. "Yup, that would be my dad," he mumbled to himself, mildly amused. As long as no one else was around, it was pretty funny.

"Aright," Jonathan clapped his hands together after the lights were wrapped around the tree. "Time for the ornaments."

"Oh my favorite!" Haley jumped up from the couch to open the box of ornaments. "Jake, help me put them on."

"I'm coming," Jake replied lazily. "No rush, Haley. We've got all day you know."

Jake picked up an ornament out of the box and hung it on the tree. "Beautiful," he muttered, clearly not meaning what he had said.

The four of them went to work hanging up ornaments, and they were done in no time.

"Hey," Haley suddenly said as she was admiring the tree, "where is our special Christmas star?"

"Hmm," Jonathan walked to the ornament box. "I don't see it in here. I wonder where it could be."

"It's not the same without our special Christmas star," Haley replied sadly.

"I'll go check downstairs," Susan got off the couch and walked toward the door to the basement.

"I'll check the upstairs closet," Jonathan added, "and Jake, you check the downstairs closet."

"I've got the other Christmas boxes!" Haley walked into the kitchen and began to look through the boxes.

Soon enough, all four were back in the living room. None of them had any idea where their magical Christmas star could be.

"I wish I remembered what I did with it last year," Jonathan thought deeply for a moment.

He began to pace back and forth throughout the living room, but all he could remember is putting all of the ornaments in the box. He walked over to the Christmas tree again , but this time, he tripped over the light cord once more and landed on the floor, his head just below the lowest branches of the Christmas tree.

"Hey!" He exclaimed while still lying on the floor. "I don't believe it!" He reached out and when he stood up, everyone could see that he was holding the Christmas star.

"It must have fallen out of the box when we were taking out ornaments," Haley concluded as she walked over to where her father was standing.

"Oh well," Susan pushed the matter aside. "All that's important is that we found it, and now it's ready to go on the top of the tree!"

Jonathan handed the fairly large star to Haley, and then he lifted her up so that she could reach the top of the tree. She reached up and set the star on the top of the tree so that it could be seen. She adjusted it a little bit before her father lowered her back to the ground. Then the four admired their work.

"And now," Jonathan said with a wide grin, "it's time to light up the tree!"

He walked over to where the switch was on the cord and waiting to push the "on" button.

"Drum roll please!" He requested dramatically. Jake rolled his eyes, but followed his father's instructions along with his mother and Haley. All three were drum rolling on the furniture.

"I present to you the Long family Christmas tree!" Jonathan announced before flipping the switch.

And nothing happened. All of the lights remained off.

"Maybe there's a bad bulb?" Haley suggested.

Jonathan sighed in disappointment. "No, Haley, I'm afraid that isn't possible. Jake checked every bulb, right Jake?"

"Yeah!" Jake lied quickly. "Of course I did," he waved his hand as if to scoff at the idea.

"Maybe he missed one," Haley suggested. "Wouldn't surprise me."

"Or maybe," Jake glared at his sister, "it's a bad outlet," he finished. "Here, let me go check!" He walked over to where the tree was plugged in only to find that it was not, in fact, plugged in at all.

"You know dad," Jake said grabbing the end of the light cord, "it might help if you actually plugged the lights in," he snickered before doing so himself.

Instantly, all of the lights on the tree lit up. Red and green and blue and purple. Yellow, orange, pink, and white. It was a very beautiful site to see.

"Wow!" Haley exclaimed. "It looks even better than last year's Christmas tree."

"Honey it looks wonderful!" Susan turned to her husband.

Jonathan beamed in reply. "I couldn't have done it without the help of my family."

Even Jake, who was already sick of the holidays, managed a small smile.

"Merry Christmas, everyone."

**XX**

**Another one that's…short. Lol. Tomorrow's is the longest one of them all if you like long stuff… :) Took me awhile to write…**

**I'm not a huge fan of this one...too short and not much really happens. But, I only have a limited time supply you know! The three that are left are better, so no worries!**

**Both this theme and the Christmas Vacation one were inspired by "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," which just happens to be one of my all time favorite Christmas movies. My family and I watch it every year, and we quote it all the time! **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~ada**


	10. Chapter 10

**The Tenth Day of Christmas**

**Theme: The Huntsman Hating Christmas**

**Title: The Huntsman Who Stole Christmas**

Every year it was just the same.

There were flashing lights and presents. There were shoppers and carolers. There were buyers and givers, receivers and singers. There were snowflakes and warm puffy coats, hot chocolate and cookies.

People went to the mall to see a guy in a fake beard and sit on his lap. People flocked to churches for the first time in a year. People streamed into stores to wipe the shelves clean.

People, in general, were happier than any other time of the year. They displayed a sense of hope that absolutely sickened the Huntsman.

It was always _always _the same.

"Look at them," the Huntsman looked out the window of his lair down upon the busy shoppers of New York City. "Look at them all," he spat. "Walking around with such happiness and hope. It makes me sick."

Christmas usually put the Huntsman in a terrible mood, but this year, it seemed to be worse than ever before.

He almost always gave the majority of the Huntsclan the day off, but this year, he was planning on eliminating Christmas completely from their minds. This year, Christmas in the Huntsclan would not exist.

It was to be just as any other ordinary day in the Huntsclan. Anyone to mention Christmas at all would be severely punished.

And soon, he made the announcement himself when the entire clan was gathered at an important meeting.

"From now on," the Huntsman began standing at his podium, "Christmas in the Huntsclan will no longer exist."

This earned a few displeased mumbles as well as some shocked expressions from the rest of the clan.

"I'm going to keep this short and simple," he told them evilly. "Anyone…I don't care who you are…anyone who mentions the "C" word, will be severely punished."

This time, no one dared to say a word.

"That is all," he stepped off of the podium and walked toward his quarters.

**XX**

Back in her own quarters, Rose sighed as she sat down on her bed. The time passed slowly. No matter how hard she tried, Rose couldn't get to sleep.

She felt like crying. She had never gotten to have a normal Christmas. Not once. And this year she had been planning on spending it with Jake.

She pulled out her cell phone and quickly punched in his number.

"Rose?" She heard Jake groan into the phone. "Are you okay?"

Rose sighed and took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears. "Not really."

"What's wrong?" Jake asked in a concerned tone.

"The Huntsman's gone insane," Rose explained. "This year, he's just ignoring Christmas completely. It's just going to be a regular day of training for us."

"Oh," Jake replied shortly. "I'm sorry, Rose," he said sincerely. "Are you sure you can't get out and come to my place?"

"I dunno, Jake," she curled up underneath the covers. "I need to have a pretty good excuse for leaving."

"Well it wouldn't hurt to try," he suggested.

She hesitated, thinking it over for a minute. "I guess not."

"You realize it's 2:00 in the morning, right?" Jake let out a tired laugh.

"Oh!" Rose flung her head around to look at the clock. "No, I didn't realize that. I'm sorry Jake," she apologized. "The time just went so fast. I…I didn't even know!"

Jake simply laughed in reply. "It's okay Rose. Do you feel a little better now?"

"Yeah," she smiled a little to herself. "I guess I do. Thanks, Jake!"

"You're welcome," he said warmly. "Now get some sleep!"

"I will," Rose laughed a little. "Good night, Jake."

"Night, Rose," she heard him say before he hung up the phone.

And then, she curled up in a ball and drifted off to sleep.

**XX**

It was two days until that dreaded day, and the Huntsman didn't know what to do. He needed to do something awful. Something terribly and completely awful. Something that would destroy the spirit and hope of all magical creatures.

He smiled to himself. "That's just what I'll do."

He grabbed his staff and leapt out the door.

This…would surely defeat the spirit of Christmas this year.

The Huntsman flung down the hallway. He was going so fast that he almost ran into Huntsgirl as he flew around the corner.

"Huntsmaster," she began quickly as he looked quite busy.

"Yes, Huntsgirl?" He paused, but made sure that she knew he was running low on patience.

Rose took a deep breath. "Tomorrow, I was planning on going for a two day hunting mission in hopes of slaying an abominable snowman," she explained. "I was hoping this morning's meeting wouldn't be a setback in my plans."

"Of course not Huntsgirl," the Huntsman replied as he began to walk away. "If you want to go and slay magical creatures to destroy the Christmas spirit, than that's absolutely fine with me."

Rose sighed in relief, but then another question popped into her head.

"Huntsmaster? One last thing," she called out to him from down the hallway.

He simply turned to look at her.

"Where are you going?" She asked him while trying not to sound worried about what he might be up to.

"I'm going to destroy Christmas," he replied quickly before running toward the exit.

"Oh," Rose realized she was now speaking to herself. "That's…not good," she whipped out her phone and dialed Jake's number.

"Yo," Jake replied lazily into the speaker.

"Jake! Listen," Rose spoke into her cell phone. "Sorry to bother you again, but this is important."

"Are you hurt?" Jake now sounded fully awake and somewhat worried. "Can you not come over to my house?"

"I told the Huntsman I was going on a two day trip to slay an abominable snowman, and he bought it," she explained. "But also," she began before he could interrupt, "he just left, and he told me he was going to go destroy Christmas. Jake I don't know what that means, but please, try and stop him from doing whatever he is planning to do," she asked him desperately.

"I'm on it," Jake replied immediately. "I'll leave right now and see if I can find him."

"Great! Thanks, Jake!"

"No problem! Be careful," he told her.

"And you too," she answered sincerely before hanging up.

She was still worried about whatever the Huntsman was going to do, but she felt a little better knowing that Jake was going to try to stop him.

Knowing how much the Huntsman hated Christmas, Rose was worried that whatever he was about to do was going to be destructive and cruel.

**XX**

A blast of green energy was shot from his staff at a herd of unicorns. They scattered immediately, and the Huntsman continued to shoot.

_You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch._

_You really are a heel. _

_You're as cuddly as a cactus,_

_And as charming as an eel_

_Mr. Grinch. _

_You're a bad banana with a _

_Greasy black peel. _

Only minutes ago, he had used his Huntstaff to teleport him to Central Park. Nothing made him feel better like slaying some helpless unicorns.

He knew many of the magical spots in the city, and he intended to hit them all by the time the sun set.

After all the unicorns had run off, the Huntsman scouted the area for a sign of any other magical creatures.

"Come out and show yourselves!" He shouted angrily at no one.

The next thing he knew, he was lying face first in a pile of snow, and his head was pounding like no other. Something had come up from behind him and knocked him down.

"You asked for it, Huntspunk!" He heard a voice say. He finally managed to get up, wiping the blood off of his lip in the process.

"Dragon," he spat.

"That's right," Jake smiled back cockily.

"You know," the Huntsman began, "slaying you would be a wonderful way to destroy Christmas for the magical world," he grinned evilly. "They'd be hopeless without you as their protector."

"Too bad that's not gonna happen," Jake swung his tail around and sent the Huntsman flying into a tree.

"We'll see about that dragon," he flashed him a toothy grin, "you will be the grand finally to my wonderful day."

And with that, he teleported somewhere else.

"Damn," Jake mumbled to himself. "How am I supposed to know where he's going?

**XX**

Leprechauns. The Huntsman hated those lying cheating little creatures, and he intended to get back at them this Christmas.

"Just give me the gold," the Huntsman ordered a shaking leprechaun. The small creature was holding a pot of gold and was leaning back against the wall, clearly terrified by the staff that the Huntsman was pointing at him. "Just give me the gold, and no one gets hurt."

Slowly, the leprechaun handed him the pot of gold and then proceeded to run for his life.

The Huntsman chuckled evilly. This certainly was turning out to be a wonderful day.

_You're a monster, Mr. Grinch. _

_Your hearts an empty hole._

_Your brain is full of spiders_

_You've got garlic in your soul_

_Mr. Grinch. _

_I wouldn't touch you with a _

_Thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole._

**XX**

Those abominable snowmen. The Huntsman hated them too. The awful sounds that they made sickened him.

"Such horrible creatures," the Huntsman mumbled to himself.

And with that, he began to fire at the small, fury beings in the tree. They quickly scattered and ran off in terror. One he hit in the leg. It appeared to be just a baby, and yet, it didn't die. Instead, it twisted around on the ground and yelped in pain. It was a terrible noise, and the Huntsman aimed his staff and was about to finish the creature off when…

A red dragon came out of nowhere and threw him to the ground, sending his staff flying into the air.

"I don't think so, Huntspunk," Jake said coolly. "You will not harm anymore magical creatures today."

"And you think you are going to stop me?" The Huntsman grinned. "Very funny," he pulled out his teleportation device and disappeared again.

_You're a vile one, Mr. Grinch._

_You have termites in your smile_

_You have all the tender sweetness_

_Of a seasick crocodile _

_Mr. Grinch. _

_Given the choice between the two of you_

_I'd take the seasick crocodile. _

Jake, in response, ran over to the wounded magical creature.

"Don't worry little guy," he smiled warmly at the cute and furry little baby Sasquatch. "I'm gonna make sure that you get some medical help."

He picked up the baby and thought for a moment. Surely Fu Dog would be able to whip up a potion to get the little guy back to full health.

Then something else caught his eye. A pot of gold that was lying in a snow drift.

"The Huntsman must have stolen this from the leprechauns," Jake examined the gold before gathering it and putting it back into the pot. "I'll have to return this to them."

The Huntsman sure was on an anger roll.

"I have to stop him," Jake spoke to himself, determined to do just that.

He scooped the Sasquatch into his arms along with the pot of gold and flew off to Gramps' shop.

**XX**

"Unicorns," the Huntsman smiled.

He was back in Central Park once more, and this time he was fully intent on slaying a full heard of those terrible creatures.

_You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch._

_You're a nasty, wasty, skunk._

_Your heart is full of unwashed socks_

_Your soul is full of gunk,_

_Mr. Grinch. _

_The three words that best describe you _

_Are as follows, and I quote,_

"_Stink, stank, stunk!" _

"I realized that I never got a chance to slay any of you," he watched them from a distance as he spoke only to himself.

And with that, he came out of his hiding place and began to fire once more. The unicorns began to run around frantically once more, making them a much harder target to hit. The Huntsman cursed inwardly at his terrible first aim. He should've been able to hit one on the first shot when they had all been peacefully eating there grass.

"Back so soon?" He heard a voice from behind, and turned to see that the American Dragon had returned once more.

"Dragon," the Huntsman seized his shooting to look back at him. "Do you ever give up?"

"Do you?" Jake shot back quickly. "You realize that you aren't doing anything at all," he spoke, and to his surprise the Huntsman listened. "You want to destroy Christmas, but see, Christmas isn't something that you can destroy," he explained.

"All day," Jake continued, "you've been teleporting around the city trying to destroy the hope and spirit of magical creatures. But don't you see? You've done nothing," he told him. "The baby sasquatch is just fine, and I returned the gold to the leprechauns. Your aim is terrible, probably because you're so angry, and you haven't hit a single unicorn."

"You think you're hurting people and scaring people, but as long as I'm around, that's not going to happen," Jake informed him harshly. "The only person that you've really hurt today," Jake paused for a moment to let him think about it, "is yourself."

The Huntsman was now seething with rage.

"Dragon," he growled lowly, "you are wrong. Christmas can be destroyed, hope can be destroyed, and you can be destroyed."

And with that, the Huntsman lunged at him, but Jake simply dodged the attack and let him fall face first into the snow. It was then that the Huntsman realized that the day was over. The sun was gone, and all of the magical creatures had run off for the night.

_You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch._

_You're the king of sinful sots. _

_Your hearts a dead tomato _

_Splotched with moldy purple spots,_

_Mr. Grinch. _

_Your soul is an appalling dump-heap_

_Overflowing with the most disgraceful _

_Assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable,_

_Mangled up in mangled up knots._

"You," the Huntsman roared back at him, "ruined my plans," he swung his staff clumsily at Jake. It was really too dark to see anything anyway.

"No," Jake shook his head, "you are ruining yourself," he flew off into the night sky leaving the Huntsman alone in the cold and windy night.

_You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch. _

_With a nauseous super naus. _

_You're a crocked jerky jockey,_

_And you drive a crooked hoss,_

_Mr. Grinch._

_You're a three-decker sauerkraut _

_And toadstool sandwich,_

_With arsenic sauce._

"Christmas," he snarled to himself. "It's always the same."

**XX**

**Once again, not a whole lot of time! It's either now or 11:00 tonight! **

**"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" Dr. Seuss**

**Thanks for reading! **

**~ada**


	11. Chapter 11

**The Eleventh Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Baking Treats on Christmas Eve**

**Title: Gingerbread Fail**

Rose waited patiently off to the side as she watched Jake open kitchen cabinet after kitchen cabinet, pulling out more seemingly random items by the second.

"Jake," she addressed him after a moment, "what exactly are you doing?" She looked up at him curiously.

"Well, Rose," he took a few seconds to reply as he was busy looking for something, "this year, my mother has decided that everyone in this household is to make one dessert for our Christmas Eve dinner tonight," he explained to her. "Since you're staying with us, I figured you could just help me out with mine."

Jake had felt bad for Rose when she explained to him how she had never had a real Christmas. The Huntsman hated Christmas, and every year it passed by as if it were just another day. So Jake immediately approached his parents with the idea of letting her stay with them over Christmas this year, and to his great surprise, they agreed. He knew that they had been anxious to get to know Rose a little bit better since his relationship with her had been going on for quite some time.

"Um, Jake?" She interrupted his search once again.

"MmmmHmmm," Jake pulled his head out of the opened cabinet to look her in the eye.

"Do you know how to cook?" She asked him almost mockingly.

"Bsssh," Jake rolled his eyes and gave her his signature cocky smile, "Of course I know how to cook, Rose! My mom's a caterer."

"And I realize that," She nodded, "but Fu Dog told me some stories-"

"Fu Dog?" Jake interrupted her. "Since when has he been a reliable source?"

"Okay then," she replied quietly, going along with whatever he said. After all, he had been nice enough to invite her over for Christmas.

"Here they are!" Jake shouted excitedly as something flew out of the cabinet and onto the kitchen floor. She walked over to see four gingerbread men cookie cutters.

"Gingerbread men?" She questioned him.

"Yup," he beamed back at her. "Completely my own idea! I've got frosting and stuff to decorate them after we bake them, and I bought the premade cookie dough from the store."

"Well," she flipped her hair casually, "you're on top of it."

"Yup," he smiled back at her. "And now all we have to do," he began as he opened the fridge and took out the container of cookie dough, "is spread this on the pan and cut out little gingerbread men."

"Sounds simple enough," she nodded as she picked up the cookie cutters from the floor and took them to the sink to wash them off. "What is there for you to mess up?"

"Not a whole lot," he replied simply as he began to spread the dough onto the pan. By the time he was finished, Rose had washed the cookie cutters, and they were ready to begin cutting out the gingerbread men.

"Alright," Jake rubbed his hands together before he picked up the pan full of little gingerbread men and put it in the oven. "Now all that we have to do is wait."

"Well, look at you! You're like the male version of Rachel Ray," she smirked as she watched her boyfriend pull out all of the frosting and sprinkles from the drawers.

"Funny," he took a moment to glare at her playfully.

"Whatcha cooking in here, Jake?" Haley asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Gingerbread men," he smiled proudly. "What are you making, Haley?"

"Well, I already MADE apple dumplings," she replied braggingly. "They are in the fridge if you want to take a look at them. I'm sure they look better than your sorry gingerbread men," she smiled evilly at him.

"Hey! My gingerbread men will be amazing!" He shouted in defense. "You just wait and see little sis."

"Let me guess," she put her hand on her chin and faked a thoughtful expression. "You bought the dough at the store."

Jake hesitated for a moment. "Well….maybe…but they will still be good!" He assured her.

"Yeah," she smiled turning to leave the kitchen, "we'll see, Jake."

Jake let out a low growl as he watched her make her way into the living room. He walked over and swung the refrigerator door wide open.

"Where are those dumplings?" He asked himself. "I'll judge them for myself."

"Jake," Rose laughed a little, "calm down. I'm sure our dessert will be just as great."

"Here they are," Jake pulled out a pan and took a giant chunk out of the end. Without even a small hesitation to listen to Rose's objection, Jake shoved it into his mouth and began to chew. He had only been chewing for a couple seconds before he spit it back out and onto the floor.

"Eww," Rose grimaced as she looked down at the small piece of food.

"That," Jake opened up the fridge and took a big drink of milk right out of the carton, "was the nastiest apple dumpling I have ever tasted in my life!"

"What's going on out here?" Haley reentered the kitchen.

"Haley," Jake began calmly, "you're apple dumplings suck!" He pointed to the small pan full of food in the refrigerator that now had a giant chunk missing.

"Jake!" Haley shouted at him. "Those aren't my apple dumplings! That's raw French toast!"

"Oh my God," Jake ran to open a drawer and pulled out a mint.

"Mom was making those for breakfast tomorrow!" She looked at him, clearly astounded.

"Well," Jake looked at where the giant chunk of French toast was now missing, "I wonder if she'll notice."

"These," Haley pulled out another pan from the fridge, "are my apple dumplings." She showed him the contents of the pan, which happened to look a lot more appetizing than the French toast stick he had just eaten.

"Yeah," he scratched the back of his head. "That would make a lot more sense."

Haley rolled her eyes. "You are unbelievable," she muttered. "And not to alarm you or anything, but I smell something burning," she added as she walked back out of the kitchen.

"My gingerbread men!" Jake raced to the oven and flung it open. He grabbed the oven mitt and pulled them out.

"They're burnt," he said sadly. "Why do I always mess up everything?"

Rose came up from behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "They don't look that bad," she tried to comfort him, "they just might be a little crunchy. We've still got another batch to put in the oven."

Rose then proceeded to grab the other pan of gingerbread men and put them into the oven. This time, she made sure to set the timer.

"There," she said, "we'll make sure those ones turn out a little bit better."

Jake sighed. "It's not my fault. Haley tried to distract me by tricking me with raw French toast!"

Rose simply laughed in return. "Hey," she smiled, "you're the one who can't tell the difference between apple dumplings and French toast sticks."

"Touché," he replied sitting down at the kitchen table.

When the second batch of gingerbread men was done cooking, the two began to decorate them with frosting of all different colors and lots of sprinkles.

"I don't like how some of them are dark and some of them are light," Jake sighed. "Oh well. At least some of them will be eatable."

"Hey," Rose leaned over in her chair to kiss him on the cheek. "I think they are perfect."

"I guess," he looked at them for a minute and began to think. "I guess they are kind of like people. Some of us are darker than others."

There was a moment of silence before Rose burst out laughing. "I guess you can look at it that way," she smiled at him.

"Thanks for helping me," Jake looked at her happily despite the situation.

"Nothing else I'd rather do," she smiled back.

**XX**

**This was inspired by my wonderful little brother...who can't tell the difference between raw french toast and apple dumplings. Poor kid...that was two years ago, and we still give him crap. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~ada**


	12. Chapter 12

**The Twelfth Day of Christmas**

**Theme: Christmas Morning**

**Title: The Best Christmas Ever **

"You know," Jake began, "it's not too late to go back to the Huntsclan and spend Christmas there."

"Oh come on, Jake," Rose rolled her eyes. "Christmas here can't be that bad. I've already been here for the whole day and it's been a blast!" She continued. "We went to the mall, listened to some animals singing Jingle Bells,-"

"Barnyard Jingle Bells," Jake cut in rolling his eyes.

"And I got to watch you burn gingerbread men," she ignored his interruption and gave him a mocking look.

"Hey!" He shouted back defensively. "Haley distracted me!"

"Mmmhmm," Rose crossed her arms and smiled victoriously. "Besides, I like your family! I think they are sweet," she smiled sincerely. "I'd much rather spend Christmas here with you then with the Huntsman, who by the way doesn't even acknowledge Christmas."

"If you insist," Jake sighed. "But don't blame me if you leave this house thinking that my family is completely nuts."

"Whatever," Rose rolled her eyes.

"I think dinner's almost ready," Jake changed the subject and peeked into the kitchen. "Dad?"

"Ah, Jake!" Jonathan walked toward the two teens with a smile. "There you are, son!" He patted Jake on the back. "Rose," he nodded his head toward the young girl in acknowledgement.

"Hi Mr. Long," she smiled back.

"I'm glad you kids came in here," he turned around and grabbed a small package off of the table.

"This is for you, Rose," he held it out for her. "We were going to give it to you tomorrow, but we just couldn't wait any longer."

"Mr. Long, you didn't have to-"

"Well go ahead!" Jonathan interrupted her. "Open it!"

Rose hesitated before she ripped open the package.

"Isn't that awesome!" Jonathan exclaimed as she finished unwrapping the present. "Now you have one too! Kind of a "welcome to the family kind of" kind of thing. Kind of."

Rose pulled out a reindeer sweater identical to the one's Jake's family was wearing.

"Oh," she held it up to examine it. "It's great! Thank you so much!" She ignored the sound of Jake laughing in the background. "In fact, I'll go put it on right now," she turned to walk out of the kitchen and up to the guest bedroom she was staying in.

She came back down into the living room wearing her new sweater a few minutes later. Jake was sitting on the couch watching a football game, and the rest of his family was nowhere in sight.

He turned around to observe her new outfit. "Nice," Jake chuckled sarcastically. "See what happens when you stay with me for Christmas?"

"Oh stop!" She sat down next to him and slapped his arm playfully. "I personally think it's cute and festive. It almost makes me feel like I'm part of a real family," she added softly.

"Well," Jake softened his expression a bit, "I will admit that it looks a hell of a lot better on you than it does on me. I bet you could make the most hideous thing ever look stunning."

Rose blushed. "I bet I couldn't…"

"Kids, time for dinner!" Jonathan shouted at them from the kitchen before Jake had a chance to reply.

"Come on," Jake helped her off of the couch. "The food should be good…minus my gingerbread men cookies."

Rose giggled as he led her to the kitchen.

He had been right. The food was amazing. Especially all of the desserts. As it turned out, Haley's apple dumplings were delicious, not at all like the raw French toast Jake had accidentally eaten earlier. In the end, Rose was the only one that ate Jake's cookies. After all, he had been nice enough to invite her over to his house for the holidays. The least she could do was pretend that his cooking skills weren't that bad.

After dinner, the five of them migrated to the living room in order to watch their annual Christmas Eve movie, and then they all headed off to bed.

"Night kiddos!" Jonathan shouted towards the three. "Better get to sleep because Santa's coming," he winked and walked toward his own bedroom.

"Night Jake! Night Rose!" Haley called to the two as she closed the door to her room.

"Night," Jake gave Rose a quick peck on the cheek and turned to head toward his bedroom.

"Night Jake," she smiled and touched her cheek where he had kissed her. This was definitely going to be the best Christmas she'd ever had.

**XX**

Jake had only been in bed for about ten minutes before he heard his door open and someone step inside.

He shot up in bed to see who had entered his room.

"Rose?" He whispered.

"Hey," she responded quietly and plopped down on his bed. "Is Santa Clause real?" She asked curiously as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

Jake laughed as he moved a little to get a better look at her.

"Yes, actually," he smiled slightly amused, "he is real. You woke me up just to ask me that?"

"You weren't really asleep where you?" She eyed him curiously.

"No," Jake hesitated. "But I still don't understand where this is coming from."

"Meh," she shrugged and looked down. "Just curious. If magical creatures are real, why not Santa?"

Jake smiled back wordlessly.

"So then," Rose continued as she looked back up at her boyfriend, "why doesn't he deliver the presents?"

"Well," Jake began not really knowing how to answer, "he exists, but that doesn't mean that he isn't a lazy pile."

Rose giggled.

"Besides," he continued, "if people knew that Santa was real then they would know that magic exists."

"I guess that's a pretty good explanation," Rose nodded.

"Now," he looked her in the eye, "you better go back to bed now. If you fall asleep here and my parents find you in here with me in the morning, it ain't gonna be pretty," he smiled playfully.

Rose laughed again. "You're right," she climbed off of his bed and walked toward the door. "Night Jake," she called back to him.

"Goodnight Rose," he smiled back and drifted off to sleep.

**XX**

The next thing he knew, Jake was being awakened by someone hitting him over the head with a pillow. He groaned and buried his face into the pillow. Since he had been up late the previous night, he was still extremely tired, and he did not feel like getting up.

"Wake up, Jake!" A voice Jake recognized as Rose's rang in his ear. "It's Christmas!"

"What time is it?" Jake managed to ask but kept his eyes shut.

"7:00 am sharp," Rose beamed. By the sound of her voice, Jake realized that she hadn't seemed this happy in a very long time. "And," she continued as she started to shake him, "there's no time to waste! Christmas is here."

Jake finally opened his eyes, and when he saw the bright smile on Rose's face and the sparkle in her eye, he couldn't help but do what she told him to.

He groaned and rolled out of bed rubbing his eyes.

"Come on!" Rose giggled as she grabbed his arm and dragged him out into the hallway and down the stairs where Jake's family was waiting.

"There you are, Jakers!" His father grinned happily. "Merry Christmas, kiddo!"

Jake plopped down sleepily on the couch as Haley began to open her presents.

The five sat in the living room for the next half hour or so opening up presents from each other and Santa. Jake's parents had been kind enough to give Rose a few presents as well, and she also received a present from Jake and one from Haley. As the morning progressed on, Jake woke up a little more and got into the Christmas spirit. Who, after all, could be so crabby on Christmas day?

After they had finished opening presents, they proceeded into the kitchen to make a Christmas breakfast.

Jake, Rose, Haley and Jonathan sat at the kitchen table while Susan ran around looking for all of the ingredients she needed.

She set the syrup and butter down on the middle of the table as well as plates, forks and knives.

"Would someone mind pouring the drinks?" Susan turned to ask her husband and children.

"I got it," Jake hopped up and walked over to the fridge. He took out the milk and the juice and set it on the table, and then he proceeded to make the coffee.

"Hmm," Susan peered into the refrigerator, "that's funny. I'm missing a French toast stick," she observed the pan as Jake shot Rose and Haley a pleading look. "I could have sworn I filled this pan full."

"Jake ate it," Haley replied simply.

"Mom!" Jake shot his hands up in defense. "Haley tricked me into eating it!"

"Did not," Haley shot back.

"Did too,"

"Jake," Susan shook her head and laughed, "I have no idea how you managed to do that, but I hope that you aren't sick."

Jake shrugged. "I feel fine."

"Well," Susan started, "just don't eat anything else raw, okay?"

Jake nodded in agreement, and the family sat down to eat their breakfast.

"Now what?" Jake asked as they finished cleaning up the mess.

"I dunno," Jonathan shrugged. "How about we all migrate back to the living room and play a Christmas game or something?" He suggested. "Oh! I know! We could play a game while listening to Barnyard Jingle Bells! Perfect!" He ranted excitedly and walked toward the living room.

The rest of the family followed him as they sat down on the couch.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Haley said as she ran up the stairs.

"I'll go get the game," Jonathan smiled and followed his daughter.

"Yeah," Susan looked back into the kitchen, "I'll be right back. I'm going to go make some tea. Would you two like some?"

"Sure," Jake replied, and Rose nodded along with him.

Susan turned back and headed into the kitchen leaving Jake and Rose alone on the living room couch.

"Jake," Rose turned to him as soon as Susan was out of sight.

"Yeah?" He flung his arm around her shoulder.

"I just want to say that this is the best Christmas I've ever had," she smiled happily. In fact, Jake rarely saw her this happy. It was nice to see that beautiful glint in her eyes.

"I agree," he nodded back with a smile. "This has definitely been a good Christmas so far," he added. "And it's even better that I get to spend it with you," he whispered softly.

"I hope we have more in the future," Rose tried not to blush, but she felt the heat rise instantly to her cheeks.

"We will," he promised. "And by the way," he started seriously, "we've been sitting under the mistletoe for a few minutes now, and it concerns me that you haven't kissed me yet."

Rose looked up, and sure enough, they were seated directly beneath the mistletoe.

"Well maybe," she grinned flirtatiously, "I was waiting for YOU to kiss ME."

"Whatever," Jake muttered as he leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips.

"Merry Christmas, Rose," he smiled and looked her deep in the eye.

"Merry Christmas, Jake," she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his shoulder.

This was _definitely _the best Christmas ever.

**XX**

**Merry Christmas Everyone! :D Hope it is absolutely amazing and happy! I do love the Christmas spirit…**

**Well, this has certainly been a fun little project! Perfect for a short little Christmas fic! I had a fun time writing all of these and dragging Noble6 into it with me. HAHA! Ohh the things I drag her into…Well I hope she enjoyed writing these as well! **

**And of course I would like to thank all of my reviewers! Noble6, Major Simi, Luiz4200, and anonymous reviewers! Your support through all of this was fantastic. And thanks to everyone who read too. Hope you all enjoyed! **

**Once again, Merry Christmas! **

**~ada **


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